Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution
by Count Valerian
Summary: A person's dreams can shake the world, but it is inevitable that voices of opposition will rise up. As the first steps on the path to the stars are taken, heroes rise and take up arms against those who would change the course of destiny. Sequel to Legacy of the Ancients. [ON HIATUS]
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution

Chapter 1

_Everything burned. The city burned. People burned. And still he kept walking. He walked past the fires and the ruins, ignoring the pleas for help from others left alive. He wasn't the only living person there. But he kept walking. He walked past them._

_He wasn't in a daze either, wherein he was controlled solely by animalistic instincts of survival. It hurt. Exposed skin reddened and cloth darkened as the heat of the flames around him burned. His chest hurt as smoky and sooty air entered his lungs. But he could think. The boy was perfectly aware of what was happening around them. He consciously ignored the pleas for help and kept walking._

_He didn't know who he was. He didn't know where he came from. He didn't know why he was here. He couldn't remember the answer, being forged by fire as he was at that moment. Not that he would realize it at the time._

_All he knew was that he had to survive. He would survive, and live to see another day, while everyone else around him died. He would escape the pain and the suffering, while the others would not. He was a sinner, and he would know it later on._

_So he kept on walking._

_As the night wore on to morning, the flames began to die down, until finally it began to rain. The flames died, and smoke and steam rose from the hissing ruins. The pain was gone. He was alive. He'd lived to see another day. But now, the will to live that had driven him on was expended, and the boy finally allowed himself to fall to the ground._

_He'd come this far. It was enough wasn't it? He'd left so many behind to die, just for this moment. Now that he'd done that, perhaps…perhaps it was his turn…to…leave?_

_Darkness began to fall across the boy's sight, and as he closed his eyes, he felt footsteps approaching._

_He wasn't alone. Someone else had lived. He opened his eyes. A dark-haired man with empty eyes and a weary face looked down on him. But what struck him was the man's expression. It was as though he'd found something incredibly priceless, something that he'd been searching for his entire life._

_The man did something. The boy felt something warm begin to seep across his body, and marginally began to feel better himself. The man picked him up and held him close. He closed his eyes…_

…and Shiro Emiya opened his own.

* * *

><p><em>My name is Shiro Emiya. I'm thirteen years-old and I'm starting Middle School today.<em>

Shiro Emiya sighed and cut off his somewhat pathetic attempt at building his confidence. A new school and a new chapter in life wasn't something that warranted that. "Shiro, aren't you ready yet? We're already having breakfast!" he heard a feminine voice shout for him across the house, and he hurried up putting his new uniform on before rushing to the dining room.

"Sorry about that mom." He said to his mother as he arrived and sat down at the table. Maiya Hisau rolled her eyes and turned back to tending three year-old Akira.

"It's your first day at school you know." She pointed out as Shiro grinned ruefully. "You could have woken up earlier you know."

"Sorry…"

Maiya turned to look at her son, and after a moment gave a rare smile. "You apologize too much, do you know that?" She asked.

"…huh…?"

"Do you have everything prepared for school?"

"Yes, everything's ready including me." He replied, and Maiya nodded.

"Then enjoy your breakfast." She said. "It's the most important meal of the day, or so I hear. Personally I think it's no different from any other meal…" Maiya trailed off before fussing over Akira again.

Shiro took his time with his breakfast, all the while 'studying' his mother. She was reserved and cold at times, but she had a warm side too which was gratifying whenever it showed itself. She had to have it otherwise his father would never have married her, or had Akira with her.

_It never ceases to amaze me why I never feel comfortable with 'stepfather' or 'stepmother' despite that being what Kiritsugu and Maiya are. It's probably because I can't remember my real parents._

Sadly enough, his father had died two years ago, and since then his mother had been even more reserved than before. Along with her foreign background, this left her with few friends apart from other mothers with young children in the neighborhood. Apart from Tohsaka that is.

_Flashback Begins_

_It was Kiritsugu's funeral. Shiro and Maiya were in front, with Maiya holding Akira by the hand. Once the service was over, they began to receive the condolences of the few people – mostly friends and acquaintances such as the Fujimura – present, while the priest went back to his church. The priest had made Shiro uncomfortable for some reason, and Maiya had eyed him with cautious hostility._

_He didn't really care much at the time, considering that he'd been crying for much of the service. In hindsight there was probably some sort of bad history between them, but then again considering they didn't see much of each other, it probably wasn't worth worrying about._

_The biggest surprise of the funeral was meeting the Tohsaka. He'd known Rin Tohsaka for a year then, after a chance 'meeting' at a park, but since they were going to different schools they were really more acquaintances who'd met a few times and had gotten to learn each other's names._

"_Tohsaka…" Maiya cautiously said in greeting, and the wheelchair-bound Tokiomi Tohsaka gave a polite bow with his head._

"…_Hisau…my…condolences…" the man said hesitantly, but his tone and expression were genuine, and Maiya accepted them and the offered flowers with gratitude. The man now turned to face Shiro, and Shiro couldn't help but be struck by his atrophied frame. "…Shiro Emiya…correct…?"_

"_Yes."_

_Tokiomi nodded. "I knew your father." He began by stating the obvious, and much to Shiro's surprise he recognized the girl pushing the wheelchair: Rin. The girl smiled at him, and gave a comforting bow, and he smiled back. "Rin's told me about you. So did your father." Tokiomi continued. "Your father…we clashed back in the day, but ever since then…well I suppose we weren't all that different in the end."_

_The man paused and sighed before continuing. "I don't know if this is the right place or not…" he began hesitantly. "…but it's something important that needs to be said, and one I'm not sure your father had the chance to tell you. Cherish your family and friends Emiya-kun, and every moment you spend with them. Kiritsugu Emiya and I…we never really learned that until it was too late."_

_Shiro's eyes widened while Rin's hands tightened around her the handles of her father's wheelchair. Maiya placed a hand on Shiro's shoulder, and smiled at him when he looked at her before turning to Tokiomi. "Thank you…" she said, and Tokiomi nodded. He made a gesture to Rin, and the Tohsaka left._

"…_he used to be so different." Maiya told Shiro later that same day. "But when he lost his wife and younger daughter…I imagine it changed the way he saw the world, and how he acted around people."_

_Flashback Ends_

Briefly closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to clear his head of the unpleasant memories of his father's funeral, Shiro continued to eat his breakfast. But now his thoughts turned back to Tohsaka, or rather Rin.

He knew the Tohsaka were a magi family. His father had told him so before he died, and had even told him that the Tohsaka were the 'owners' of the land of Fuyuki as per the regulations of the Mages Association. He wouldn't mind getting to know Rin some more…she was smart, strong, and pretty…

"Shiro, what's wrong?" Maiya asked with concern as she saw her son begin to redden. "Your face is turning red."

"It's nothing." He said hurriedly, and Maiya raised an eyebrow but said nothing as Shiro continued to eat.

Shiro was a magus of course…even if he could only make use of projection and reinforcement. His father had never really elaborated, but had merely told him that he'd no chance of truly learning other forms of magecraft apart from those two. He'd even gone so far as to tell Shiro to avoid aspiring to become a magus, as more often than not pain and loss were to be found along that road in life.

Still, the choice was his, and Kiritsugu had told him that if becoming a magus was his heart's desire, then he should practice what little he could do whenever he could. But going back to Rin…

…_does she know I'm a magus?_

* * *

><p>Rin Tohsaka sighed as she set her bag down on a desk in her new classroom at Homurabara Academy, and looked around her. As might be expected there were few others students present, early as it was. She stretched and walked over to the windows, and looked down to watch the other students arrive.<p>

A flash of red caught her attention, and she blinked as she saw Shiro Emiya walking across the grounds to the school. So they were going to the same school, were they? Interesting…she knew that Shiro's father Kiritsugu had been an…acquaintance of her father – apparently they'd once been enemies but after the war they'd come to an understanding of sorts as evidenced by their brief but heartfelt appearance at Kiritsugu's funeral – but the question now was whether or not Shiro was a magus.

Kiritsugu had been a magus, but apparently he'd been cursed or something, although her father had refused to elaborate. As such there was a possibility that he'd been unable to pass on his secrets to his son before he died.

"_That would be such a waste…_" she thought to herself. "_…magic is the fruit of generations of labor and study. To lose such a gathering of knowledge all because of a curse…_"

Rin sighed as she continued to look out of the windows. "Well…" she said softly to herself. "…I'm not even sure he has the right mentality to be a magus."

_Flashback Begins_

_Ten year-old Rin Tohsaka was walking down the street when she noticed a commotion over at the park across the street. Curious, she crossed the street to investigate. She found a trio of boys ganging up on a redheaded boy – all were probably her age – and based on the dialogue she quickly discovered it was because the redhead had stood up for another boy – who was nowhere to be seen – who'd been cheated out of pocket money by the trio of thuggish boys._

"_You shouldn't force other people to give their money to you!" the redhead was shouting. "It's not right! You're no better than a common thief!"_

_The trio laughed, and the apparent leader made a gesture and his two sidekicks quickly stepped forward and grabbed the redhead's arms. "You calling me a thief, you half-breed wimp?" he asked belligerently as the redhead vainly struggled against his captors._

"_Like hell I am!" the redhead shouted defiantly, and Rin winced. This wasn't going to be pretty. She was right. The other boy laughed, and then punched the redhead in the gut, causing him to double-over with a gasp of pain. Taking a deep breath, she made a decision._

"_Listen here…" the bully began as he pulled the redhead up by the hair. "…I don't care if…"_

_He broke off as he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Grunting with irritation, he turned…and was promptly knocked out cold and flat on the ground as Rin's heel met his chin. Perfectly balanced, Rin swept back into her starting stance and gave a glare at the other two bullies who ran off in terror and left their leader on the ground behind them._

"_Are you alright?" she asked the redhead as he struggled to his feet._

"_I'm fine…" he said while dusting his clothes off. "…and thanks. My name's Shiro Emiya by the way."_

_Rin raised an eyebrow at the boy's friendly manner, and while he seemed a bit naïve, he wasn't really a bad person. "My name's Rin Tohsaka." She returned the introduction. "It's nice to meet you, Emiya-kun."_

"_It's nice to meet you too, Tohsaka-san."_

_Flashback Ends_

Rin smiled at the memory, and briefly closed her eyes before heading back into the classroom. "_Idiot…_" she thought. "_…but then again there's nothing wrong with standing up for the weak. But will alone isn't enough, power is needed. I certainly hope that if he's still up to his heroics, then he'd better have learned how to take care of himself. Well, Aunt Maiya did say she was going to fix that problem, so it shouldn't be a concern…I hope._"

* * *

><p>The lunch bell rang and Shiro stretched before looking around the classroom. Many students were already leaving for the cafeteria, while others were breaking out box lunches. Most were chatting away, either with old friends or new ones. Shiro was among the minority who had yet to make friends of his own in this school.<p>

"_Well…_" he thought as he stood and taking his boxed lunch began to make for the rooftop. "_…there's no need to rush things. It'll snowball as things go along._" As he left, he briefly paused at the sight of a purple-eyed and purple-haired boy with a scholarly disposition as he pulled out and began to read an aged book written in some kind of foreign language while eating his lunch: Shinji Matou.

Matou…there was a name he'd been taught to avoid by his parents. Shiro wondered why as he continued on his way. Both of them had refused to elaborate, although Kiritsugu had given more information than Maiya did.

Apparently the Matou once made use of truly horrific magic, which involved torturously 'engraving' mysteries directly on the body. It was effective though, enough for the Association to look the other way despite their general disapproval. But that had been a long time ago, at least according to his father. They were different now, but not in a good way.

_They had gotten worse since then._

His father had given no details, but apparently the Matou were in possession of powerful and secret magic, and that whatever it was he was to avoid their members as much as possible. Kiritsugu in particular had warned him of two people in particular to be wary of: Medea Matou, and her daughter Sakura.

_Mother and daughter tag team of evil…that's not nearly as funny as I thought it would be._

Shiro wondered if he would eventually be forced to confront them. He hoped not. He didn't like starting fights, even if wouldn't hesitate to stop them. And even if Matou was in possession of powerful and dangerous magic, it didn't necessarily make them evil so long as they didn't abuse their power.

Taking comfort in that fact, Shiro continued on his way. He didn't notice the purple eyes which followed him as he left.

* * *

><p><em>Shiro Emiya…the adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya and Maiya Hisau…magical potential: unknown…crest: possible but unlikely…origin and elemental affinity: unknown…magical training: confirmed but extent unknown…combat training: confirmed but extent unknown…threat level: insufficient data for complete assessment…<em>

Shinji Matou looked away from Shiro Emiya's retreating back and back to his book, the reading of the hieratic script returning to the front of his thoughts. Naturally this wasn't the 'Book of the Dead' paraded around by mundane archeologists – that being a mere placeholder while the real thing was kept under lock and key in the Clock Tower's vaults in London – but thankfully the Matou had connections of their own.

A letter to the El-Melloi proxy and within a month a hieratic and book-bound translation of the ancient Egyptian necromantic manual had made its way to Japan and into his hands. Easy as pie…but actually making it work would be harder than he initially suspected.

_But then again when did using magic ever become easy?_

It would take time and lots of effort, but he should be able to do it. With a sigh Shinji closed the book and sat back on his chair. Emiya…Tohsaka…there were two other magi families in the city, and neither of them trusted his family. He couldn't blame them, not really, given his aunt and cousin's actions during the Fourth Holy Grail War.

_It's annoying constantly being on guard like this._

Fortunately it seemed that Shiro Emiya wasn't nearly as paranoid as his father, at least on the surface. Shinji had to remind himself that Shiro was the son of the Magus Killer, an infamous spell-caster that had been one of the world's deadliest assassins in his heyday.

_At least that's all he was as far as mundane Humans know. To magi he was someone who could threaten even ancient bloodline descents with his highly-unorthodox but highly-successful methodology._

As for Tohsaka…she was an unknown factor. For some reason his aunt had dismissed them as a threat – which they probably weren't given the subversion of their 'secret' alliance with the Holy Church and the destruction of a large portion of their research during the previous war – but still…he felt uneasy around the Tohsaka girl.

_She's dangerous. She may not have Sakura's Divine Words, but somehow I just know that facing her in a fair fight is __**not**__ a good idea. Then again…she is Sakura's sister._

Shinji finished his lunch and after cleaning up, reopened his book and jotted down some notes in his own personal cipher. If things went well, his research would be finished in a couple of months, after which he'd head out into the countryside to gather 'materials'. He'd need a lot, considering that this phase of his research focused more on quantity over quality.

_It's good practice for the next stages, and quantity is a quality in itself._

* * *

><p>"Mom I'm home." Shiro called out as he returned home that evening. A sound of assent echoed from the kitchen, and Shiro went to his room to change before heading for the backhouse. On the way he passed by the kitchen to see if his mother needed anything and briefly played with Akira, and then he continued to his workshop.<p>

"_Workshop…_" he thought wryly as he entered the building. "_…only a basic bounded field, a magic circle of some sort, and my…tools. It's a poor excuse for one, but for me it's just fine._"

Picking up one of the items on a nearby desk, Shiro closed his eyes. "Trace on…" he whispered, and he felt the familiar burn as prana cycled through him. "…components analyzed…fundamental structure analyzed…composition reinforced…"

Placing the tool back on the desk before him, Shiro sighed and after wiping the sweat from his forehead stepped out of the building to look up at the stars. Being in the city and all that, few stars were visible, but that didn't stop him.

"_Just because you can't see them it doesn't mean that they aren't there._" He remembered that strange girl with blue hair and eyes – a foreigner probably although she was wearing a yukata – telling him that during last year's Tanabata festival. "_The light of those stars came from millions of years away…and one day we'll reach out for them and listen to their song._"

Shiro smiled, and turned back to the house as his mom called him for dinner. "_Is it possible?_" he had asked, and the girl had replied before vanishing into the crowds.

"_It's only impossible if you think it's impossible._"

"_What an intriguing person…_" he thought to himself. "_…she was probably a tourist from Tokyo or overseas, but I still should have gotten her name._"

* * *

><p>AN

We start around two-three or so years prior to the events of Fate. Kiritsugu and Maiya were legally-married and had a daughter – Akira – although Kiritsugu still died as per canon.

Tokiomi is alive, but he's aged beyond his years and is confined to a wheelchair. Kirei is still his usual psychopathic and fun self, while Shinji is a scholarly necromancer as opposed to a playboy rapist.

Guess who was the 'strange girl' Shiro met at Tanabata?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution

Chapter 2

British Airways Flight 321B arrived at Narita Airport at 2335 hours Japan time. Among the passengers was a French magus of noble descent, the Viscount Valier. The aristocrat looked around the terminal with largely-concealed disdain for Asians, but he kept it in check as he passed first through Immigration and then through Customs.

_If the British had more taste then he didn't have to come to this backwater._

It wasn't just the Association of course. They were simply the latest in a series of tasteless fools who couldn't understand much less appreciate the beauty of his art. The first had been his family, and then the people in his home town, and then the French magical community. Ostracized from his homeland, the Viscount had gone to London…but perhaps not unexpectedly, the British too had lacked good taste.

_What a terrible world this is, lacking people with an understanding of high art._

And now here he was, all the way around the globe, forced to continue his quest for beauty and perfection in secret. The Viscount conceded that perhaps it was to be expected that an artist such as himself was persecuted so. History after all had proven time and time again that great artists were never appreciated by the world at large, such as Nero, Caligula, the Marquis de Sade, and many others besides. Therefore as much as he disdained Asians, Japan would be a fine place to start over.

There were other reasons other than being all the way on the other side of the globe from Britain. One of those was the Grail wars of Fuyuki City. It had only been a few years since the most recent one, but the Viscount was hopeful of getting a chance to fight in the next one. With the power of the Holy Grail, the whole world would know his greatness.

_Fuyuki City…what a quaint place…_

Fuyuki City was also his destination due to it being a spiritually-valuable land under Association jurisdiction…and therefore the last place for the Association to start looking for him assuming they reasoned out that he would go to such a backwater. Another reason was that the only other spiritually-valuable territories in Japan were either under the native families – which he had no care to confront due to his unfamiliarity with Far Eastern magecraft – or under the Aozaki Clan, another Association affiliate.

_And one which he had no desire to cross; Touko Aozaki would be troublesome by herself, but the Lady Fifth was not someone he or any sane man would wish to fight._

As he entered the taxi that would take him to Fuyuki City, the Viscount remembered the final reason why he'd chosen to go to ground in that city. The Tohsaka Clan – the Association affiliate which 'owned' the territory – was reportedly in decline, due to heavy losses from the recent Grail war. If so, then he should expect little trouble from them or their neighbors in the Matou Clan who were said to be extinct at any rate.

* * *

><p>Lunch break the following day would see a most unusual sight at the rooftop level of Homurabara Academy in Fuyuki City, with thirteen year-old Rin Tohsaka sitting on the rail surrounded by a large number of birds, one of which was perched on her shoulder. Of course, any magus worth the name would quickly notice the prana emitting from them, and conclude that they were in fact familiars.<p>

Rin spent a few more moments giving instructions to her familiars, and then they flew away and leaving her alone on the roof. Sighing she picked up her boxed lunch and began to eat, all the while considering the latest development. Late last night an unidentified magus had arrived at Fuyuki City, but had broken protocol and had not visited her father the Supervisor regarding his business in their territory.

_How rude._

Granted it had been very late, but even then they should have done so the first thing in the morning. There was also the possibility that it had been someone from the Church who'd gone to see Kirei at Kotomine Church, but a call had disproven that just this morning.

_I don't like this. Something tells me there's more than meets the eye going on here. There's a three-day weekend coming up. I'll investigate then._

She'd raised the matter with her father over breakfast, but surprisingly enough he'd been reluctant to let her do so, and had suggested letting Kirei handle the matter. That was rather surprising considering that her father usually avoided Kirei – apparently over something that had happened during the priest's apprenticeship under him – but it was probably just her father being overprotective.

_I can't really blame him for that._

Finished with her lunch, Rin packed up her things and made her down from the rooftop, and unexpectedly stumbled onto a conversation between Shinji Matou and Student Council Chairman Haruhiko Suzumiya. "Good afternoon Tohsaka." The harried-looking Matou magus greeted her.

That was surprising. Shinji usually looked quite calm, but for him to be harried to this extent…

_It's Chairman Suzumiya. Of course he would look harried._

"Good afternoon to you too Matou." She returned the greeting. "Is something the matter?"

"No…" Shinji answered, though his eyes clearly indicated otherwise. "…the Chairman and I were just discussing the sale and import of foreign books." From the tone of voice Shinji used, Rin clearly saw that the 'discussion' was rather one-sided in nature. Despite her dislike for the Matou, she found herself sympathizing.

Haruhiko coughed and smiled. He was about to say some more when a dark-haired girl appeared on the far end of the corridor and waved at him. The Chairman's smile widened and he patted Shinji on the shoulder. "Looks like I've got to go…" he said with a grin. "…we'll finish this later. Take care of yourselves, Matou, Tohsaka."

The Chairman walked off with a hand held high in farewell…and Shinji gave a sigh of relief once he was out of sight. "I feel like I just ran a mile and a half." He said exasperatedly, and Rin smiled slightly.

"Don't worry about it." She assured him. "You're not the only one who has difficulty keeping up with our dear Chairman."

Shinji blinked, and then he realized it. "Oh that's right…" he finally said as he and Rin began to walk down the hallway. "…since you're the representative for your class, you have to deal with him with regards to…well, whatever it is you representatives and the council does."

"That we do…" Rin said wearily. "…I really don't know where Suzumiya-senpai gets his energy, but everything he does always wears us out. I don't know how the rest of the council manages to keep with him, and I shudder to think what's going to happen once the festival preparations later on begin."

Shinji cackled at their expense, and Rin glared at him. "Why was he badgering you about foreign books anyway?" she asked, and this time it was Shinji's turn to look weary.

"He managed to get a glimpse of the book I…requested from the Clock Tower." Shinji replied, and held up his hands to placate Rin before she could go on a tirade about secrecy. "Relax it's in Ancient Egyptian so he couldn't read anything."

"You can read Ancient Egyptian…?" Rin said in shock and not a little envy.

"Read and write, yes, but I can't speak it." Shinji said with a shrug.

"Going back to the topic…" Rin began but Shinji preempted her.

"He saw it as some kind of foreign language…"

"…technically it is…"

"…so he wanted to know if it was possible for the council and the school to import some foreign material via my family's connections." Shinji continued while ignoring Rin's interruption.

"…what did you tell him?" she asked as they began to climb the stairs.

"Of course I told him that I couldn't…" Shinji said. "…I told him that I managed to buy this book through an acquaintance of my aunt's but that didn't stop him."

"I'd be surprised if it did." Rin muttered, and Shinji snorted.

"He then asked if we could get in touch with my aunt's acquaintance. I told him she was in Britain, but that didn't seem to bother him in the least."

"And then what?"

Shinji grinned. "And then you arrived." He said. "Thanks for the rescue."

"You're welcome." She said sarcastically, and Shinji laughed. "Who's this acquaintance of your family anyway?"

Shinji shrugged. "Some woman named Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri…" he replied but left out the fact that she was the El-Melloi proxy. There was no need to tell Rin too much, just enough to intrigue her and to give a subtle warning of the degree to which Matou had revived itself in the wake of Zouken's demise. "…my aunt got to know her back during the war."

"I see…" Rin said. A Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri…they were one of the more prominent European mage nobles, so in other words someone not to be underestimated. "…I'm surprised that your aunt hasn't caught the Clock Tower's attention, considering who and what she is."

Shinji narrowed his eyes and briefly glanced at her. Rin glanced back just as coldly, and after a moment Shinji acquiesced. At the moment she was the stronger magus, so there was no need for him to take too many chances. "There's no proof for one thing…" he said. "…and for another Ms Sola owes my aunt a few things…"

"Geis…?"

Shinji smiled cryptically. "…perhaps…" he said, and Rin rolled her eyes before strolling off on her own.

"Fine…" she said. "…keep your secrets. You are a magus too after all, and perhaps I was poking around too much."

Shinji just smiled and shook her head, and noticed a pair of girls looking curiously at him and after Rin. "Um…" one of them began. "…about what she just said…"

Shinji rolled his eyes as he opened several circuits. "Yes we're magi…" he said. "…we can use magic."

"Really…?" the two girls said in awe, and Shinji smiled.

"Yes really…" he answered while altering their memories. "…but don't worry. You won't remember me telling you that, or wherever you got such a strange idea."

The girls blinked, and looked blankly around them as they couldn't remember what they had been doing and talking about for the last few minutes. As they began to question each other, Shinji closed his circuits and quietly reentered his classroom.

* * *

><p>Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri walked out of the stairwell and down the hallway to the somewhat luxurious and expanded office she'd been using for the past few years. "Good morning George." She said in passing to an Enforcer, and then pausing, pulled out and gave him the sports page of The Times newspaper she held in one hand. "Manchester won by the way."<p>

"Thanks milady…" he said gratefully. "…good morning to you too as well…"

She waved him off and continued on her way. Unsurprisingly Waver Velvet was already waiting for her in her office. "Good morning…" the soon-to-be Lord Waver El-Melloi II (at least once his fiancée was old enough to seal the 'agreement' with the House of Archibald) greeted her as Volumen Hydragyrum brought in breakfast for two on silver trays.

_I will probably never get used to that._

"…how's your girlfriend?" Sola asked and causing her apprentice to choke on his coffee.

"She is not my girlfriend!" he gasped out and with his face beet red. Sola rolled her eyes.

"Right…" she said. "…just keep telling yourself that."

"Anyway…" he said while putting his mug down and Sola buttered some toast for herself. "…have you heard about Viscount Valier?"

"They found him…?" Sola asked disinterestedly. "That was quick."

"No, we haven't found him." Waver said, only to pause thoughtfully. "Well actually we did, but we haven't caught him yet. Or at least the Enforcers haven't."

"And…?"

"He's in Japan." Waver said, and causing Sola to pause eating. "He's headed for Fuyuki. No doubt he intends to take advantage of Tohsaka's weakness…"

"…and with absolutely no idea of the true power slumbering in the city." Sola finished before wiping her lips with a table napkin. "I'll write to Matou and warn them."

"And Tohsaka…?"

Sola shrugged. "They have connections to the Holy Church don't they?" she asked. "I'm sure the priest will keep them informed."

"I'm surprised that the Association hasn't given them grief over that." Waver observed.

"They used to be secret Christians during Japan's feudal period." Sola explained. "It's not an illogical result. And apparently the Lord Second's been pulling some strings. Apart from the Vice-Director, there's not much the other lords can do against the Wizard Marshall."

The two magi sat in silence for a while, Waver nursing a cup of coffee while Sola enjoyed her toast. "Can they really handle Valier?" Waver finally asked.

"That insane alchemist is nasty…" Sola conceded. "…Tohsaka will probably find him troublesome to deal with, unless he brings help from the Church. Matou will cook him alive."

"You're quite confident in Matou." Waver observed, and she laughed before patting her arm and then her chest.

"I've experienced firsthand the extent of her ability." She said. "Valier will be no match for her."

"Huh…" Waver said with some skepticism. "…whatever you say then."

Sola looked a bit affronted by his dismissive attitude, but then a crafty smile made its way to her face. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked.

"No, I don't think so."

"You're eating breakfast with me."

"Hmm and…?" Waver's voice trailed off as his face blanched, and Sola's smile grew wider. "I'm in a heap of trouble."

As if on cue the door slammed open and a fuming blonde appeared in the doorway glaring at Waver. The younger magus cringed as the girl seemed to swell with anger, all the while his mentor nursed her own coffee with a serene expression on her face. As Sola watched Reines Archisorte tear into her fiancé with a high-pitched rant, she pulled out a locket from under her shirt and fiddled it with her fingers.

_I just need to hold on, and in time I will see you again my love._

* * *

><p>Rin opened her eyes to the orange-tinted skies of sunset and savored the cool breeze blowing on her face and through her hair as she looked out from the school's roof. Her familiars had picked up a bounded field covering several ways in and out of the under-city, and extending deep into it. The few familiars that had ventured in to investigate further had been lost, and it was clear that whichever magus made his or her way to Fuyuki wasn't here for legitimate reasons.<p>

_What is it with criminals and fugitives that they always try to hide in deep and dark holes?_

Rin cursed Sakura as she realized how difficult this was going to be. The Tohsaka Crest was intact and in her possession, and she had ample gems on hand, but even so things would be easier if she had access to some of her family's stored mystic codes and conceptual weapons…at least they had been stored before Sakura had destroyed them.

Her father's help would have been invaluable too…but Sakura's murder of their mother had broken their father. Rin loved her father. She looked up to him. She could never do otherwise. Even if…Rin shook her head. Sakura was in the wrong. She shouldn't have gone that far, there had been no need for it…

Sighing Rin turned to leave. Two more days until the long weekend…she'd need to build up her prana and prepare the appropriate gems, as well as read up on bounded fields and other potentially-necessary material. Fortunately most of the family lore remained untouched, so there should be no problem on that front.

"Hey there Tohsaka…" Shiro Emiya greeted her as they met on the ground floor lobby. "…I'm surprised to see you here."

"I could say the same for you Emiya-kun." she returned, and Shiro smiled before giving a reply.

"I spent more time at the Archery Club than I realized." He said, and Rin found herself smiling; for some reason the thought of Shiro practicing archery seemed to fit.

"I see…" she said. "…actually I had finished my duties for the day, but I spent some time watching the sunset at the roof."

"Oh?" Shiro said in surprise. "I didn't know you were such a romantic."

"Oh come on…" Rin said, surprisingly enjoying the conversation. "…you have to admit the sunset is rather soothing." It was true, and something about herself that still surprised her rational mind. The only thing that she disliked about it was that if she let herself drift too far whenever she watched the sunset then she would find her normally constrained emotions begin to leak out.

_If only…things…could have been different…_

Rin stamped out such thoughts with sheer force of will, but she felt something in her chest constrict. "So are you heading home now, Tohsaka?" Shiro asked, and Rin glanced at him as they left the school together.

"Yeah, I'm heading home." She said. "What about you, will you be heading home or are you going out with someone?"

Shiro blushed and Rin laughed at his expense. "Very funny…" he said crossly before giving a slight smile. "…I'll get you back for that one, you mark my words. But no, I've got a part-time job this evening."

"I see…" Rin said. It was strange really, chatting with someone like this. She didn't really have any close friends of her own, so this was surprisingly pleasant. She wouldn't mind doing this a lot more often, though she quickly realized how this might clash with her ideals as a magus and the heiress to the Tohsaka Clan.

_She needed to talk to her father about this. It would probably soften him up regarding her plans or at least distract him from the matter of the intruder._

* * *

><p>"Flesh is my canvas…" the Viscount Valier spoke the first line of his aria as he walked across the assembly hall of his new underground palace deep within the under-city of Fuyuki. For an alchemist of such skill and lineage as he, remodeling the underground chambers to his taste was an easy matter, even if he preferred to work with flesh and blood over metal and stone.<p>

_There was no beauty in forging metal and sculpting stone, but the same could not be said for the shaping of living flesh._

As his words echoed across the dimly-lit space, his creations, constructs of unnatural beauty began to stir from the slumber into which he had unwillingly bound them on the long trip to their new home. 'Unnatural'…the Viscount couldn't help but sneer at the word so often used by his fellow magi. Of course they were unnatural, they were made by means of magic after all, and magic functioned by going beyond the limitations of the natural world to bring about miracles.

_My poor children…it is such a shame that no one apart from I understand you._

"…blood is my ink…" he spoke, and many of his creations awoke fully, while the larger and more complex ones began to stir more fitfully in their sleep. The ones that had awoken slithered or walked or moved whichever way they could towards him, and he patted and regarded them fondly as they swirled and moved around him affectionately. "…and bone is my tool."

The last of his creations finally awoke, and Viscount Valier closed his eyes and savored the sounds filling the air: the hissing of breath through fanged mouths, the sliding sound of oiled skin or scale as they slid across stone or flesh, and the tapping of claw, horn, and foot against stone and carapace. It was a comforting sound…it felt like home.

The man smiled, as he walked past his adoring creations, clad in tastefully cut clothes of the finest Egyptian linen dyed, trimmed, and embroidered with the appropriate colors. "Now then my children…" he said, and his creations fought and struggled against each other to better hear his words. "…let us continue our great work: that is to bring beauty and art to the crudity that is the Human form."

* * *

><p>AN

This chapter was a bit of a pain to write…if only because I'm currently playing Katawa Shoujo and as you can imagine it's a bit troublesome to shift gears to the grim and dark world of Kinoko Nasu.

Anyway we'll be spending two maybe three or so chapters in this period of time, as I want to build up Shiro and Rin's relationship with each other. Those who wondered about Akira are correct: she's not a magus, but she got something from her father's curse. Wait and see what it is, as well as her role.

Sakura will probably make a cameo in the next chapter, although in this fic she'll probably be just a support character. Let's face it: she's probably OP by this point. By the time Fate rolls around, even Touko would be 'blown out of the water' with ease.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution

Chapter 3

Seaman First Class Kate Monte groaned softly as she slowly came to. Her head was spinning non-stop, and a creeping sense of queasiness knotted the inside of her stomach. The ship she'd been serving on had put to port at Fuyuki City, a stopover just before their next port of call, still eight days out along mainland China. The captain had been kind enough to declare a general period of R&R for the whole crew for the next two days, and the past twenty-four hours had been a blur of rich and delicious solid, non-gruel, non-cubed foodstuffs and alcohol scored in the back alleys of Fuyuki's port.

The last thing she remembered was getting dragged to some dance party hosted in the shell of an abandoned factory where she had met a local businessman named...Vincent? Vance…? It had started with a V, but he had had the most interesting blue eyes and the strangest, most masculine aura about him. She dimly remembered flirting up a storm while downing enough beer and whiskey to down a bull.

The errant memory of booze sent her stomach flipping again and she shook her head before opening an eye to try and figure out where she had finally landed. The air was sterile, and smelled of alcohol and antiseptic. By the looks of it she was in some kind of hospital room and laid out on a gurney. She sucked in a deep breath and groaned, trying to sit up, only to find herself strapped by her wrists and ankles to the bed. God, how drunk had she gotten last night?

Unable to rise, she studied herself instead. Unsurprisingly she was dressed in scrubs and had apparently been cleaned up, making her wonder again what had happened to her last night. "Hello…?" she called out with a hoarse voice. "Is anyone there? I'd like to know what happened to me if possible."

"Oh good…" the businessman from last night said as he walked in carrying a case of some sort. "…I was beginning to wonder if you were never going to wake."

"Oh hey…" she said, but there was a note of unease in her voice. Something didn't feel right about the whole situation. "…who are you again?"

The man smiled, and Kate couldn't help but be struck by how eerie his eyes were, or how his foreign clothes and appearance seemed to contrast with their surroundings. She began to fidget, and terrifyingly enough, the sight seemed to make his smile grow wider. "My name is Franz the Viscount of Valier, Ms. Kasumi."

"So…" she began nervously, and then her eyes positively bulged as she spotted him opening his case which was revealed to be carrying a wide variety of surgical tools and vials. "…what's the story here, Franz?"

"Hmm…? Oh nothing much…" he said as he pulled out a syringe and filled it with a clear fluid of some sort before turning to her with a deranged smile. "…you simply have been granted the honor of being one of my…creations. Works of art and beauty beyond the crudity of nature, flesh shaped and crafted as per the wisdom of ancient magi."

Grinning, he approached her with the syringe held high. No one would hear her scream.

* * *

><p>"Good morning…" the reporter for the morning news greeted the audience. "…this is JNN News. Firstly, continuing to cover the continuing disappearances of young men and women as well as children over the week…"<p>

"Things have gotten dangerous…" Maiya commented, and Shiro nodded. The three day weekend had begun, but the enjoyment of the occasion was dampened by the events of the past week. "…if this were a Grail war, I'd be inclined to say it's the work of an unruly Master and his or her Servant. However, it's most likely a serial killer considering that we're not in the middle of a war right now."

"It's the boogey man who's getting them!" Akira piped up from her side of the table, and Shiro looked at his sister.

"Akira-chan…" he began. "…there's no such thing as a boogey man, don't you know?"

"Yes there is!" Akira protested. "Mama says that boogey men take away children who don't eat their vegetables, so Akira always eats her vegetables. So if the boogey man is getting then, that must mean they don't eat their vegetables!"

Shiro blinked, and then glanced at his mother who raised an eyebrow and looked back at him without any hint of embarrassment. Shiro sighed and rubbed his forehead wearily. "Onii-chan…" Akira began. "…what's wrong?"

"It's nothing Akira." He told her, and the three year-old tilted her head questioningly. Shiro smiled reassuringly, and after a moment she smiled back and went back to her coloring book.

Maiya however was now looking at Shiro as though measuring him, and giving a sigh, discreetly indicated that he follow her. The boy acquiesced and followed her out of the dining room to one of the locked storage rooms in the back. "Are you going to go?" she asked. There was no need for specifics.

"Yeah…" Shiro said. "…something doesn't feel right about this. I need to check it out."

Maiya paused unlocking the room, and nodded. "I see…" she said before opening the door fully. "…you really are very much like your father."

"I…" Shiro began hesitantly. "…I don't want to save the world. I just want to be like what my father was to me. That's all…"

"A hero of justice…" Maiya whispered sadly, and briefly closed her eyes after pulling out a box and closing and locking the door.

_It always starts small. But things begin to snowball, and then they begin to go out of control. Oh Shiro, if only you knew the pain and suffering that awaits those who walk down such an inhuman road._

"…whoever is behind this will probably have more experience than you do." Maiya continued while turning to face Shiro. The boy's eyes widened as Maiya opened the box and he saw what lay inside: a Thompson Contender and several bullets, none of which he sensed were ordinary from the moment he saw them.

"...Mom what's…?"

"This is your father's mystic code, specifically made to fire the conceptual weapon 'Origin Bullet'…" Maiya interrupted him. "…they're made from your father's bones and embody his concepts of severing and binding. They are the ultimate anti-magus weapons."

"…do…do you really think a magus is behind this?" Shiro asked, and Maiya shook her head.

"I don't know." She answered and thrust the box to Shiro, who took it reluctantly. "But if it is, then you're going to need this. I'll contact Tohsaka myself later on, but personally I hope a magus isn't behind this. Your training is very basic for the most part, even if I have taught you how to break through average bounded fields. You should probably try and work with his daughter if a magus is indeed behind this."

Shiro was silent, and carefully lifted the Thompson out of its box. "Is there anything I need to know about this?" he asked.

"Don't just shoot it." Maiya told him as they began to walk back to the dining room. "The best time to use it is when the enemy has most or all their magic circuits active; the Origin Bullet imposes its concepts either through direct contact with the magus' body or against their mysteries. The result is the circuits being simultaneously severed and bound together into a useless mass, similarly to an elastic band that is cut and then tied together."

"That's brutal!" Shiro protested. "The sympathetic damage alone to the nervous system…!"

"Shiro, aren't you forgetting something?" Maiya interrupted him again. "Magi walk with death."

"I know that but…!"

"This is why your father and I don't want you to walk down the path of the magus." Maiya said sadly. "The contradictions therein…Shiro, we don't want to lose you, or for you to lose everything like we did."

"Mom…"

"It's your choice." Maiya said while pausing and turning to look at him. "But I fear that if you go and investigate this matter, then your life will irrevocably be bound to that of magical society."

* * *

><p>"Hello Kariya…" Byakuya Matou greeted his brother as Kariya Matou entered the kitchen. "…it's rare to see you around. Another courtesy visit…?"<p>

"Something of the sort…" Kariya replied warily, and Byakuya snorted before the policeman went back to studying the files laid out on the table.

"If you're going to ask about this week's disappearances…" Byakuya preempted his brother. "…then my lips are sealed. It's worth my job to give out unauthorized disclosures."

"…then it seems I've wasted my time coming here."

"Funny, you used to be so concerned about Sakura and Shinji."

"That was before you and that reincarnated witch corrupted them!" Kariya said hotly. He could sympathize with Sakura's anger at being thrown to Zouken's less than tender mercies, but he could not and would not condone the brutality which she visited upon her own mother, or for that matter her unquestioning devotion to the witch. "They're no different from the rest of the magi now!"

"I beg to differ." Byakuya argued without looking away from his documents. "I'm certain that neither of those two would do to their children what Tokiomi would have done, or for that matter Zouken. And besides…" he said and paused while slyly looking at Kariya. "…you generously donated your magic circuits to Shinji too, didn't you?"

Kariya abruptly stood. "I think we're done here." He said, and then he stalked off with the slamming of the front door echoing across the house several moments later.

On the upper floors, a girl with blue hair and blue eyes peeked out from an out of the way storeroom at the sound, and after a moment ducked back in. Another moment later, Sakura and Shinji appeared from inside the storeroom, carrying between them an aging and iron-bound chest. "This is either madness or brilliance." Shinji growled.

"Those traits happen to coincide a lot of times." Sakura returned. "Less talking and more lifting; this thing is heavy, and I don't want to know what happens if either or both of us accidentally drop it on our toes."

"I do…" Shinji said darkly as they approached his workshop – no one (not even her mother) was allowed inside Sakura's workshop (talk about secretive) – and closed the door behind them with significant difficulty. "…either or both of us will end up making a quick trip to the hospital."

"Yes well…" Sakura looked pained and trailed off as they set the chest down and Shinji grabbed the book he'd lifted from the library downstairs. "…I'm sure we should worry about that traps he put on this."

"He shall not be named…" Shinji said the simple but profound ancient Egyptian curse with relish before flipping through the book. "…now then, let's see what we've got…"

"I could just brute force this you know." Sakura pointed out, unclipping one of the two silver eagle wing clips to adjust one of the locks of hair framing her face, and then clipped it again.

"…tempting…" Shinji said distractedly, one hand inching over the chest barely an inch above it. Sakura didn't say anything as a faint purple glow began to emanate from the chest. "…but I'd like to do this the proper way."

"Let's just hope that whatever is inside isn't bugs or anything like that." She finally said with a note of disgust. "I hate bugs."

"This looks like a death spell of some sort…" Shinji muttered absentmindedly, and Sakura sighed and smiled softly at her cousin's determination.

"…this would cause a lobotomy…this one will rupture any and all magic circuits…this one…wait, a summoning spell? Bastard was contracting spirits…I'll have to look up on that…ah here we go!"

"You found something?" Sakura asked and Shinji nodded before jabbing a finger at a point along the lid's edge. The prana field flickered, and a magic circle appeared around Shinji's finger.

"There are over a dozen traps on this thing…" he said. "…but they're all tied to one trigger spell. Once I sever that, it's over." Taking a breath, he whispered his aria…and then he and Sakura jumped back as the prana field exploded with a shower of sparks.

"Shinji…!"

"Sorry about that…" he apologized. "…I forgot to dampen the power surge." Stepping forward he tore away the lock and flipped the lid open. "Well it's not bugs or worms…"

"What is it then?" Sakura asked while leaning over the lid.

"…junk." Shinji replied, pulling out an assortment of items including rusting swords, tarnished crowns, tattered pieces of cloth, and other odds and ends. "It's all really old junk."

As the two adolescents messed around with the chest, a pair of familiars looked on. A red cat sitting on her haunches near the window with her tail lazily waving in the air, and an aged-looking crow perched on a nearby chair.

"_Our masters appear to be enjoying themselves._" Miu telepathically commented, the cast of her voice indicating her young age, and the crow snorted in the same fashion.

"_They're young._" Kurogane returned, the mannerisms of his thoughts indicating his age. "_They tend to enjoy themselves whenever they can. So do you as a matter of fact. And you and they should._"

* * *

><p>They were Human once…<p>

…but not anymore, and it was all Shiro Emiya could do to grind his teeth and force the bile down as he opened up with his G3 Battle Rifle, and put the abominations that sprang at him from the shadows down.

Entering the under-city had been surprisingly easy…too easy. Shiro immediately reinforced his bones, muscles, nerves and eyes, increasing his stamina, strength, and reflexes to superhuman levels. It was what drove him to notice the…serpentine thing which had slithered off into the darkness as he approached.

_He was expected. And he didn't have to wait for long before running into the welcome committee._

As the tunnel opened up into a larger chamber, Shiro's enhanced senses spotted four humanoid figures leaping at him with superhuman speed, and the magus recoiled in horror. Their nude and hairless forms would have passed for Humans at a distance…until one noticed their limbs terminating in gleaming bone blades, their eyes, ears, and noses surgically adapted to apparently collect sensory information with maximum efficiency.

The G3 barked, the muzzle flare tearing the shadows apart even as the leading figure went down in a shower of gore. The other three dispersed, and Shiro barely had time to dodge the counterattacks of two from the left and behind, all the while gunning the one to the right down.

_I've got a knife and I know how to use it, but I'm not sure getting into a fight with these guys is a good idea._

Putting all his power into his leg muscles, Shiro leapt several meters forward even as grenades and pins dropped to the ground behind him. A moment later and an explosion drowned out the death screams of the monsters.

Wiping at his face, Shiro carefully surveyed his surroundings before proceeding onwards. Thankfully the tunnel leading out of the chamber was clear, but the next chamber was guarded by another serpentine creature which fled even as Shiro approached.

_That can't be good._

Slowly walking forwards, Shiro stopped short of actually entering the next tunnel. Closing his eyes he reached out with his senses…there! "A bounded field…" he hissed as he raised his hands and began to work on breaking through. "…and I almost walked right into it."

As he worked, he kept his senses sharp, expecting to be attacked out of nowhere at an instant. Surprisingly no attacks came…which could only mean that whatever monster was waiting for him would attack the moment he broke through the field. He continued to work on the field for a few minutes…and leapt backwards the instant it fell, barely avoiding a pair of claws swiping down that would have taken his head off.

"No way…" Shiro whispered in horror as the creature crawled into the room. It resembled a centipede, only instead of a head it featured the body of a woman from the waist up, only with her hands terminating in claws and with venomous fangs extending out of her mouth. "…what the hell is going on here?"

Shouting incoherently in anger at such a blatant perversion, Shiro opened fire with his G3, the bullets tearing bloody holes into the monster's body. Screeching in fury, the monster dived down, only for Shiro to dodge at the last minute. "Go to hell, whatever you are!" he shouted, as a shot from his battle rifle blew the creature's head to bits.

As death spasms wracked the rest of its body, Shiro ran down the next tunnel, letting the memories of the great fire all those years ago center him on the present. Nothing boiled from the shadows to attack him, but before long he came to an intersection. As he pondered which direction to take, a scream drew him down a tunnel to the right.

The tunnel was slightly longer, and terminated in a large chamber filled with empty cages…except for one cage where a feminine figure sat sobbing. Reloading his battle rifle, Shiro cautiously approached. As he approached, the woman looked up at him, and much to his surprise hope lit up in her eyes at the sight of his armed and camouflaged figure.

"Please…" she begged him. "…kill me."

"Hang in there…" he tried to reassure her, speeding up as he approached. "…I'm going to get you out of here and…"

To his surprise, the woman only burst into another bout of weeping at his words. "H-how…" she sobbed. "…h-how am…supposed to live…like this…!" Shiro's eyes widened and the breath caught in his throat as he saw the extent to which she had been defiled. A row of six breasts ran down her torso, and one arm terminated in a serrated blade and the other arm terminated in a crab-like pincer. "Damn…damn it…"

Shiro swallowed. "You…you can't…you shouldn't give up. There's a magus in the city…he can help you out…"

The woman looked up sharply at the word magus, and shrank back in fear. "…magus…" she whispered. "…you're one of them…you're like him…the one who did this to me!"

"No I'm not…!"

"Liar…!" she screeched, and grabbed for his gun through the bars. Shiro struggled to stop her, but the woman managed to depress the trigger, and a bullet buried itself in her forehead. Shiro gaped at the sight of her collapsing limply to the ground, surprise swiftly turning into shock, and shock swiftly turning to anger.

_Whoever did that to her, is also responsible for her death._

Swearing bloody vengeance on whichever fugitive magus was behind this Shiro turned and looked up at the gigantic figure that had somehow managed to squeeze its bulk through the tunnels. "I am so not in the mood for this." He growled, and the thing swung down a massive, cleaver-like blade at him. Shiro dodged at the last second, his outrage and anger giving him the tranquility to precisely aim and fire a bullet through the thing's eye and into its brain.

As the monster toppled forward, Shiro jumped to the side…and was surprised when something white and resembling spider silk caught his battle rifle and yanked it away. Looking around him, he wasn't surprised to see several, giant spiders latched onto the wall and ceiling. At least they would be spiders if not for their partly-Human faces, only with fangs and insect-like eyes.

Several of them spat their silk at him, but Shiro managed to jump clear, pulling out a pair of Belgian FN P90 submachine guns. Opening fire as he ran, he gunned down several of the things, but they were fast and agile, many of them avoiding his shots and screeching bloody vengeance on him.

Something wet touched his leg and pulled him back, and with a curse Shiro belatedly realized that he'd dropped his guns. _This is bad._

The spider woman dragged him close, and prepared to stun him with a dose of her venom before taking him before her master, only to screech in pain as a holdout knife buried itself in an eye. Shiro pulled his leg clear, and ran to where his battle rifle was lying. He'd almost managed to reach it when he felt more tendrils of spider silk catch his legs and causing him to trip and fall prone to the ground. Unwilling to give up, he struggled to crawl forward, only to be held in place by arachnid limbs. As he felt something prick him in the back and inject him with liquid fire, he could only scream in frustration.

"**DAMN IT…!**"

* * *

><p>AN

Another pain in the ass chapter…and as promised, Sakura makes an appearance.

Sakura (12)

Shinji (13)

Rin (13)

Shiro (13)

Miu and Kurogane…some of you have probably forgotten the cat from my earlier story, but I sure haven't. She's now Sakura primary familiar, much like Kurogane (the crow) is for Shinji. They're not the usual Nasu-verse familiars (i.e. extensions of a magus' will) but are 'classical' familiars in our sense, that is to say spiritual guides to witches and sorcerers. They still need their masters' prana/external sources to use their special abilities (Mystic Eyes of Enchantment for Miu and illusion magic for Kurogane) but they don't need it to live.

There's a certain symbolism to a cat and crow serving as familiars for Sakura and Shinji, though it's up to you people to figure it out.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution

Chapter 4

"_That idiot…_" Rin Tohsaka angrily thought as she heaved the cover off of the manhole and began to climb down. "_...can't he read between the lines? His mother told him '…perhaps you should work with Tohsaka's daughter…' but no, he just had to rush in and be a hero. Hopefully he hasn't been killed or turned into a test subject before I get there._"

Maiya Hisau had phoned her father and told him about Shiro's plans to investigate the strange happenings over the past week, and Tokiomi had reluctantly told Rin to go help him out. By the time she got to the rendezvous, there was no one there. After an hour of waiting and a boiling temper, Rin had gone in to check things out…only to find the tunnel blocked by collapsed debris a good distance in.

_Thankfully structural analysis of the cave-in shows that he wasn't entombed under it. Unfortunately this means that I now have to find another way in._

Grumbling under her breath, Rin began to climb down the manhole, pausing only to drag the manhole cover back in place above her. "Whether or not a magus is behind this…" she growled at the foul odors in the place. "…I'm going to kill him for making a maiden like me enter this place. This is humiliating."

A few moments later and she stepped down onto one of the under-city's tunnels. Reinforcing her eyes and other senses, she cautiously pushed onwards. It wasn't long before she would encounter trouble.

As she entered a three-way intersection, insect-like sounds caught her attention moments before the sight did, as several spider women spat silk at her. They were fast…but so was Rin. As the silk flowed through the air towards her, she swiftly pulled out a wind-enchanted gem and threw it. The gem struck the mass of silk and exploded.

The blast of wind erupted in a half-dome fashion outwards, cracking stone and metal, and crushing the monsters which collapsed and fell to the ground twitching. Rin raised a hand to her mouth and fought the urge to retch as she saw how the monsters really looked like.

_Human experimentation…I know things like that are inevitable when it comes to magic, but to this extent…bastard!_

Rin looked around and then knelt to place a hand on the ground. She needed to know where to go, and the best way to find out which direction to go – given the fugitive being a magus – was to head for the strongest concentration of prana.

"Straight ahead, huh…?" she whispered as she stood, and headed down the tunnel straight ahead. The tunnel was surprisingly short, but Rin gagged as she reached the end and was forced to project and reinforce – otherwise it wouldn't last for long – a gas mask, considering that the tunnel apparently ran perpendicular to one of the city's sewers.

_Ugh…what a wonderful smell our fugitive has discovered._

A sloshing sound caught her attention, and warned by instinct Rin stepped back into the tunnel and hid against the wall. After several moments her eyes bulged as she saw in the faint light of the service lighting a giant, humanoid abomination with three heads and a body that looked like it had been stitched together from God knows what appear and walk down the sewer.

_What have we stumbled onto?_

The thing stepped over the service bridge with surprising dexterity, and continued on its way. "_Probably a patrol…_" Rin thought as the thing vanished down the corridor, though she didn't fail to notice the cleaver-like blade holstered on its back.

Taking a deep breath – thankfully filtered by her mask – Rin stepped out of the tunnel and moved to cross the bridge. The mask vanished midway through, and it was a gagging Rin that made it across and walked up along the sewer edge – following the prana lines – to another tunnel.

She proceeded down the tunnel…and barely avoided a blast of rot vomited in her direction as she somersaulted backwards. "…what the hell?" she shouted, and retreated further as even more blasts of green and acidic slime was vomited at her, until at length she found herself back at the sewer.

_The smell is terrible, but at least I have space around here._

Stepping to one side of the tunnel, Rin threw a piece of quartz into the tunnel behind her and closed her eyes. The crystal exploded with light, and a bloodcurdling scream echoed down the tunnel. She smiled; considering the darkness down here that blast of light would have blinded it.

Opening her crest, she stepped into the tunnel entrance with her right hand facing down the tunnel palm outwards. "Eisen, feuer, und stein…" she cast, her crest glowing blue in the darkness and illuminating the hydra-like monster writhing in agony, its bulbous eyes bleeding heavily. "…Zweihander!"

A blast of prana ripped from her hand and blew the monster in half before continuing down the tunnel. Rin sighed as she lowered her arm, and then glanced sharply to the side at the sound of heavy breathing echoing down the tunnel along with the sound of splashing water. "Oh shit…" she cursed, and then she ran down the tunnel.

_I'd forgotten that I wasn't alone down here. All that light and noise was bound to draw something's attention._

Rin ran down the tunnel, and briefly took a moment to rest as she reached its end. Judging from the frustrated roars behind her, whatever abomination was pursuing her was too big to fit in the tunnel.

_That was just fine._

Rin turned to the right to follow the source of the prana, only to curse as she realized that her earlier spell had caused the tunnel there to collapse, and forcing her to proceed down the left-hand tunnel and hope that it too proceeded to where the prana was coming from. The tunnel was surprisingly long though, and Rin wondered at its length after ten minutes of walking. A pinprick of light appeared at the end, and Rin tensed as she wondered whether or not it was a sign of danger.

The light grew stronger as she approached, and Rin relaxed slightly at the realization that it was just artificial lighting. As she exited the tunnel, Rin briefly took in her surroundings: a well-lit room with a section of one wall dominated by a bank of gauges and switches, and another section by a series of pipes and valves.

She barely had time to take this in before she leapt forward, narrowly avoiding a wafer-thin projectile of red solid, but considering the speed it had been sent against her it would probably have run her through with ease. She looked up and gagged.

It was probably a Human once, and it still looked Human. That is, if one ignored the glowing glass eyes and the mechanical lower half of its face. Rin shuddered as she dodged another salvo, and found herself thankful for the black cloak that covered its body.

_God knows what else could be wrong with it._

The thing raised its hands and pointed them at her palm outwards, and Rin snarled as she somersaulted around the room, the thing bombarding her with impunity from the service section above. She pointed her finger and returned fire with Gandr…to no effect. It didn't even try to dodge, and tanked her attacks for all the good it did her, all the continuing its own attack.

_Whatever was done to it probably renders Gandr's curse ineffective. But it doesn't seem inclined to dodge...if that's the case then…_

As she continued to avoid its attacks, Rin pointed her finger at a pipe and fired a Finn shot. The pipe buckled and a high-pressure jet of water spurted out. "…that'll do!" she shouted triumphantly as she evaded a fresh salvo – belatedly realizing that they were probably made from crystallized blood or ichor – and reached into her crest.

With a gesture, a stream of water split and froze into a spear-like form, and with another gesture, impaled itself with extreme prejudice into the monster's head. It froze, and then toppled forwards and fell head first onto the ground. Rin winced and gagged as the head burst like a ripe melon against the stone floor.

She made another gesture and a sword of ice formed and floated to her hand. "I'm a bit rusty with the sword…" she muttered. "…but this might be useful."

* * *

><p>Kirei Kotomine was not a happy priest.<p>

Well perhaps that was a bit confusing. Kirei had his issues, in particular a burning obsession to know why he enjoyed the pain and suffering of others so much. But that didn't stop him from enjoying life, at least not anymore.

The days were spent preparing platitudinous homilies for the small Christian community in his care, maintaining the façade of cooperation with the Tohsaka, keeping himself fit, and finding ways to amuse himself. These ways usually involved television and eating hot and spicy food.

_Outside of certain situations, mundane Humans make for better entertainment than magi._

There was also his professional relationship with the victors (by default) of the Fourth Holy Grail War. But they and their adopted family generally left him alone to do as he pleased, although Sakura Matou had put her foot down regarding some issues.

_It's funny how a girl who heartlessly tortured her birth-mother would care so much about her elder sister, even if said sister has closed herself off from her._

Well, it wasn't like he had any real need to silence either Rin or Tokiomi, so there wasn't any problem there. With no issues on the supernatural side of things, a monotonous and surprisingly relaxing lifestyle on the mundane side, all in all Kirei had every reason to be content.

And then this fugitive just had to come in and spoil it all. Both Tohsaka and Emiya – whom Kirei had ignored as the broken Kiritsugu wasn't really as interesting as he was when he had been the Magus Killer – had gotten involved in the matter. Tokiomi had 'requested' that he go help Rin and that boy Shiro Emiya out, and it wasn't long before Medea had called him.

_Get rid of him._

Black Keys flashed through the thick air as Kirei swept down the tunnel, his arms and legs blurring as he lashed out. Conceptual weapons expertly sliced limbs and heads from bodies, even as more physical strikes pulverized bone and liquefied internal organs.

_This is below me._

The things he was facing were nothing more than puppets, cyclopean constructs of Humans flesh with fanged mouths and clawed hands possessed of wiry strength and inhuman speed. Mundane Humans and unskilled magi would probably have been overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers…but individually the things were weak. Mundane Humans armed with modern weapons and most magi would have torn them apart.

_He was an Executor. These things were nothing compared to Dead Apostles._

Kirei didn't really blame Medea for sending him to 'get rid' of trash like this. As far as she knew it was just another magus. She couldn't have known that he was holed up behind these pieces of shit. It was the fugitive who was demeaning Kirei by making him fight these dolls.

_I am going to kill him slowly and painfully, all the while enjoying each and every excruciating moment of it all._

The last of the puppets fell dead at his feet, and Kirei exorcised some of his frustration by crushing the corpse's head beneath his boot. Stepping forwards after gathering his breath, the priest kicked down the door leading to the next gallery.

A bounded field fell into place as he passed into the room, seemingly-trapping him in the room. At the same time it began to fill with gas. Stun gas probably; whoever was holed up in the under-city would most likely want to interrogate whoever could get this close. The priest rolled his eyes.

_This trap was pathetic._

Kirei threw a Black Key and collapsed the bounded field and simultaneously blew open the door leading out of the gallery. And then he calmly walked out the room as it slowly filled with gas, his lips curling into a smug smile.

_Damn, I'm badass._

Surprisingly the gallery didn't lead into another tunnel, but rather into a narrower and longer gallery. It was well-lit too. And he wasn't alone. Four gigantic figures towered before him, multiple heads leering malevolently down at him from misshapen bodies.

_Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?_

With a roar one of the giants swung a cleaver-like blade at him. Kirei dodged backwards, a Black Key striking the giant in the head and blowing a chunk of it away. The monster roared in pain and fury, and Kirei blinked in surprise at the fact that the Iron Plate Effect didn't kill it outright. He smiled.

_Perhaps this wasn't a total loss after all._

* * *

><p>"What the hell are these things?" Rin screamed as she used Gandr with both hands, mowing down…the things swarming towards her.<p>

They looked like children, except they weren't children or Human. Well they might have been the latter at one point in time, but Rin refused to accept that fact. She just couldn't.

_Magic…magecraft is the study of miracles. It is the process of uncovering the secrets of the world and using those secrets to create miracles and to better the lot of Humanity._

Their skins blackened with ichor and their limbs deformed into spindly, claw-ended extremities, those things weren't monsters. They were abominations. Their sharp teeth dripped venom, and mindless, crimson eyes saw her as prey. "Damn it all!" she screamed as she jumped back and threw an entire handful of fire and wind-enchanted gems at them before running out of the 'nursery' and taking cover behind a wall.

The explosion shook the walls and ceiling, and blew bits of ichor and flesh out of the ruined door. After several moments of heavy breathing, Rin risked a glance back inside. She sighed with relief at the confirmation that nothing alive remained inside.

_This…this is horrible…_

The young magus slid against the wall down to the floor, breathing hard. As she advanced deeper into the fugitive's stronghold, she found more than one chamber or gallery that left her shaken to the core. The 'nursery' was simply the latest of them.

One chamber had several surgical beds inside, over which loomed mechanical constructs that resembled humanoid spiders. They were inactive, but Rin had quickly realized that their limbs had terminated with tools meant to take flesh apart…but not to put it back together. Shaken by the realization, Rin took them apart viciously.

One other chamber had been the worst, clearly catatonic women stripped naked and with a variety of pipes and tubes plunging into their flesh from the beds they lay upon, and below their waists…no, no, no! She didn't want to remember! She didn't want to remember or to think about what had been done to them, or the fact that she'd put them out of their misery.

_A pit full of worms and a black-eyed man dragging a younger girl and a mirror of herself towards it._

"Sakura…" Rin breathed. "…is that what almost happened to you? Is that why you killed mother? God…why…why did this have to happen? Magic…it isn't supposed to be used like this!"

Shakily rising to her feet, Rin continued on her way deeper into the under-city. The rest of her explorations passed in a blur, though later on she would vaguely remember facing and fighting and killing other abominations. Things that looked like crosses between scorpions and cockroaches…a centipede-like construct of deranged Humans fused to each other in ways that should not be possible and were complete perversions of the sacred art…she even remembered vomiting as she came upon a pit filled with blood, shredded flesh, and broken bone.

_This…what is this place? Not even the darkest tales of the cruelest and most vicious of the Dead Apostle Ancestors were this bad._

She should have fled, turned back, and gone for help. Kirei could deal with this. Sakura probably could too. Her mother…Aunt Medea…wiping this hell clean would be child's play for her.

But she kept on going.

_Emiya-kun, are you still alive? Are you still you? Where are you?_

* * *

><p>"Marvelous…" the Viscount said with approval as he walked around his workshop, and Shiro Emiya defiantly glared at him from where he'd literally been chained to the wall. "…truly a marvelous specimen…do you know what this means boy?"<p>

"No…" he said angrily. "…and I could care less."

The Viscount sighed. "You have so much potential…" he said mournfully. "…even if your number and quality of magic circuits are all average, with an aligned affinity and origin of 'sword' your potential for performing magecraft is unimaginable! Come now boy; as much as it pains me to admit this, you are unsuitable to simply be used for my art. No, you could be an artist yourself! So how about it: won't you become my apprentice? Together we shall immortalize ourselves with our combined talent!"

"Screw you!"

The Viscount sighed again, and picked up what looked like a bone drill, causing Shiro to blanch in alarm. "It's such a shame then." He said. "You have spirit in addition to talent, but it is untamed. It lacks purpose and awareness. But I will not suffer this, that such talent either be wasted or worse, corrupted by those weaklings from the Clock Tower. You will be my apprentice, one way or another."

Shiro began to struggle, and the Viscount chuckled. "There's no point in struggling." He said. "Those chains are specially-forged to restrain magi. Well, I suppose it's possible to overload them, but at the moment your lack of training along with your rather average base magical potential makes that impossible. Now then, shall we begin?"

Shiro glared defiantly as the man approached, a bone drill in one hand and a scalpel in another.

_Is this how it ends? Alone and helpless, to lose everything I have without changing anything?_

As if in reply, a massive explosion shook the room as a deep and powerful rumble could be heard echoing. The Viscount Valier looked around in alarm, and a reptilian familiar sped into the workshop and quickly crawled up its shoulders. "It would seem that more interlopers have come…" he said disdainfully and placing his tools back on a nearby desk. "…no matter, I'll deal with them real quick. Fighting is such a waste, but at the very least I might be able to get some interesting material to work on."

The madman stormed off and slammed the door behind him, and Shiro resumed trying to break free. "…fundamental structure analyzed…composition reinforced…"

Reinforcement was a rather simple form of magecraft, but it could be surprisingly difficult to use. It involved using prana to 'fill in' the 'gaps' of an object's fundamental structure, reinforcing its base attributes and increasing them. And that is where the difficulty lies: should the reinforcement process be flawed, then the object would reject the prana, and self-destruct.

And by deliberately messing-up his reinforcement, Shiro hoped to break free.

It didn't work. The boy cried out as the chains threw his prana back at him, the backwash in his magic circuits resulting in agony. However Shiro **knew** pain. This was just an annoyance. "One…more…time…" he whispered…and then the wall on one side of him exploded inwards much to his surprise. "…what the…!"

A dazed girl walked in, her eyes weary and slightly-crazed: Rin Tohsaka.

"Tohsaka…!" Shiro shouted with a mix of relief and surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Rin blinked and turned to look at him. She looked blankly at him for several moments, and then she blinked a few times as greater awareness returned. "E-Emiya…?"

"Yeah, it's me!" he said, and then he tugged at his chains. "Look, can we save the talk for later? The madman's run off for now, but I don't know when he'll be back, so can you please get me out of these chains?"

Rin blinked, and then ran over while pulling a gem out of a pocket. "Right, right…" she began while fiddling with the chains. "…we'll talk later. For now let's get you of those, and then finish that bastard off!"

* * *

><p>AN

I don't really have much to say for now.

Scratch that, I have something to say after all. Actually yes, Kirei would be disgusted by what the Viscount is doing. Kirei's a piece of work, but even he has lines he won't cross. This is a guy who stabbed Tokiomi in the back and manipulated Kariya and Aoi into destroying each other in canon...and is profoundly offended by Zouken's very existence.

So yes, even his AU self would be disgusted by what's happening under the city.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution

Chapter 5

Rin threw a pair of gems and encased all three sword-wielding constructs – resembling nude and neutered Humans with unnatural and crude-looking metal cylinders bolted onto their backs – in ice. A moment later and Rin shattered the ice – along with everything it encased – with a single, well-aimed kick. As frozen bits pattered against the floor, walls, and ceiling, Rin made for the other doorway but paused to look back.

"Emiya-kun…!" she shouted over her shoulder. "What are you spacing out for?"

"I'm not spacing out!" he shouted back, and then turned back to studying a wall-mounted technical diagram of the local section of the underground passageways. "There was a map back there in the man's lab. Apparently he keeps most of his monsters in these three large galleries."

He pointed to a series of spaces shown on the diagram, and Rin walked over to join him. "I see…" she said. "…and your point is?"

"Well these three galleries are also part of an emergency flush system. In case of a flood on the surface, or the river overflows, or even the sewers and other underground…"

"Alright, alright I get it!" Rin said, looking slightly green. "There's no need to go about explaining the city's waste cleaning facilities to me! How do you know all this stuff anyway?"

Shiro grinned and blushed slightly. "Well…" he began while rubbing the back of his neck. "…I just like to know how things work or something like that…"

Rin sighed as Shiro trailed off, and placed her hands on her hips. "Can you flood those galleries?" she asked. "It won't get rid of his more specialized facilities or destroy his workshop, but it's a start."

Shiro nodded and walked over to a nearby section of the wall dominated by large pipes and valves along with a red lever under a sign that read 'Emergency Release'. He pulled it, grunting as he did so. The room began to shudder and in the distance they could the rumbling as water began to rush into the adjacent galleries. "That should do it." Shiro said, and Rin nodded.

She turned back to the diagram, and carefully memorized the path marked out as the escape route for emergency personnel in case the under-city was ever flushed. "Come on…" she said. "…if we go this way, we'll be able to get out."

"What about him?" Shiro asked.

Rin smiled. "If we're lucky he got flushed away along with everything else."

"And if we're not?"

"Then he'll probably try to get out the same way we'll be using." She said with a shrug. "We can ambush him then."

* * *

><p>Kirei Kotomine was a person used to unpleasant surprises. It was part of his job. There was this one operation when a heretic they were pursuing opened a portal and summoned a small horde of demons. Thankfully they weren't True Demons – those were under the purview of the Burial Agency and not the Executors thank God – but they were still troublesome.<p>

_There was a reason everyone involved decided never to speak about the details ever again._

Some of the things he'd fought tonight in the under-city had been rather surprising in their own way. One of those was a multi-headed thing that resembled a cross between a Venus flytrap and a snake. Another was headless humanoids that blindly ran forwards to explode violently and sending acidic poison splattering in every direction.

_Nothing too unusual for an Executor though._

However…the massive wave of filthy water that was tearing down the gallery towards him and taking everything with it was something the likes of which he'd never encountered before. Cursing at the suspicion that a certain pigtailed girl was behind the deluge, the priest reinforced his legs and jumped up, latching onto one of the heavily-shielded cables running along the ceiling.

Grimacing as he stared down at the tide of filthy water running past, Kirei looked around for a few moments before swinging once, twice, and then three times before successfully kicking open a nearby service passageway, and gingerly swung over and into it. "_Well…_" he thought to himself as he cautiously crawled along – the passageway meant to allow technicians to check the electrical systems running under the city – to where he thought the exit would eventually be. "_…this could be worse._"

_Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong._

Something screamed up ahead, and the priest bit out a curse. Drawing a Black Key, he hacked away at the wall, which knocked hollowly as his blows dislodged cement and metal as the monster swiftly approached with the sound of something sliding stickily across stone. Fighting down the wave of panic, Kirei steadily tore away at the wall until the hole was large enough for him to squeeze through with considerable difficulty.

Swearing angrily as he cleaned himself, he looked back and saw a slug-like thing squeezing in after him. It screamed at him malevolently as it noticed his attention, and Kirei vehemently threw a Black Key and set the thing on fire.

Looking around, he found himself in a small storage room. Dusting off the last of the debris, he kicked the locked door down and emerged in a well-lit hallway. "Who the hell are you?" a startled voice asked out of nowhere, and the priest turned to look at a surprised-looking and well-dressed man standing a good way down the hallway.

"I assume you are the magus responsible for those things crawling around the under-city?" he asked.

"And if I am?" the Viscount responded with a sneer while activating his crest. Flesh and bone began to distend, and Kirei raised an eyebrow in surprise as the 'man' before him transformed into a monster. "First a pair of magi…" the magus-turned-abomination growled out, now resembling nothing more than chimera-like creature with a humanoid body one of whose arms terminated in a crab-like claw. Jewel-like eyes glared balefully at Kirei as he drew even more of his Black Keys, and a snake-like tongue slithered out. "…and now an Executor…you people destroyed my children. You'll pay!"

The monster shot forward impossibly fast, and Kirei swore and threw several Black Keys that briefly managed to stagger the thing. The priest retreated down the hallway, unwilling to fight in such a narrow space. "You won't escape!" it shouted as it moved to pursue.

* * *

><p>Rin and Shiro ran down a tunnel pursued by things that resembled a cross between insects and horses, their razor-sharp claws striking stone loudly and breaths hissing through fanged mouths as they pursued the fleeing magi. "There…!" Rin shouted. "There's the exit!"<p>

Dropping a gem behind her, ice exploded upwards and sealed off the tunnel. The things chipped away at the ice wall with terrifying speed, but it was enough time for Shiro and Rin to get out of the tunnel and into a larger gallery that led outside. Rin slammed the door behind her and activating her crest, proceeded to reinforce and alter the door from merely being a sheet of metal into something that wouldn't be out of place as a pressure door in a reactor complex.

"Well, we shouldn't need to worry about getting washed out." Shiro said as he regained his breath. "This place looks like it was made for vehicles to be driven in for off-loading, and vice-versa."

"Why do you think I led us here in the first place?" Rin retorted, stepping back from the new pressure door – now fused with the surrounding reinforced concrete wall – mere moments before something slammed vainly into it from the inside. A series of thuds echoed through the door, followed by a frustrated screech.

"We still have to get rid of the rest of those things eventually." Shiro pointed out, and Rin nodded.

"I'll get Kirei to help out." She said. "But who knows? Maybe the Association will get here and take over."

"Won't that be a problem?"

Rin looked a bit unsure, her pride as the de facto Supervisor warring against the idea of assistance from the Association, but in the end pragmatism won out. God knew how far the under-city was overrun by the fugitive's abominations. Of course, she could always get help from the Matou...

Her thoughts on the matter were interrupted as a large section of the wall exploded on the other side…and then both Rin and Shiro recoiled in horror as Kirei jumped out followed by a thing from nightmares. "What the hell is that?" Shiro gasped out as Rin struggled to pull herself together.

"That is the magus behind all this." Kirei responded dryly as he jumped around and barely avoided the thing's tentacles. Perhaps he shouldn't have pissed the magus off too much by trying to burn him alive with a Black Key and a ruptured gas line. It almost worked, but seeing as crests kept their users alive so long as there was enough prana…

_Regeneration plus critical damage equals unpredictable results._

The Viscount Valier didn't even look remotely like a Human now. He was nothing more than a shapeless blob of flesh, with multiple eyes staring out in every direction and tentacles surrounding a beak-like mouth on top. "A little help would be most appreciated!" he shouted as he threw a Black Key and destroyed an eye.

Rin responded by firing Gandr at the monster, which of course did nothing apart from just making it angrier. "Rin…" Kirei said acidly as he continued to avoid the tentacles. "…did you really think Gandr would work on something this big?"

"What do you suggest then?" Rin shouted angrily. "I'm almost out of gems, and I don't have enough prana left for any five-line or higher-rank spells!"

"This thing is only kept together by its crest." Kirei replied as he deftly sliced away several tentacles lashing out towards him and kicking away another tentacle headed for Rin. "Something that could destroy crests and circuits would be most useful."

"Easier said than done…" Rin muttered as she rummaged through her crest's collection of spells dating back generations. As she expected, there wasn't anything like that, which wasn't all that surprising: usually when fighting each other, magi never tried to destroy each other's crests but rather sought to capture them and the mysteries they contained.

Just as she was about to shout her negative to Kirei, she felt Shiro place a hand on her shoulder and gently but firmly push her to the side. Her eyes widened in surprise as he pulled out an antiquated-looking pistol and aim it at the monster. "…hey, hey Emiya-kun…" Rin began incredulously. "…ignoring the fact how and where you got that, I doubt a mere gun would work against it."

"That thing is being held together and kept alive by its crest isn't it?" Shiro asked while reinforcing his gun arm.

"Well yes, but I don't see how…"

"Good…" Shiro interrupted her and pulled the trigger. The Origin Bullet lanced out at supersonic speeds, and struck the monster…which reeled back, its tentacles turning grey and flaking away, and the flesh of its body bloating and exploding with foul-smelling ichor as runaway mutations tore it apart from the inside out. Kirei leaped back and warily glanced at Shiro.

"Where did you get that?" he asked softly.

Shiro lowered the Thompson Contender and sighed. "…father…" he began hesitantly. "…he couldn't leave behind his crest. But he left behind a conceptual weapon meant to crush magi utterly, as well as a mystic code that could use it."

"I see…" Rin said softly with an unreadable expression on her face. Her eyes however betrayed both approval and revulsion in equal measure: approval that Kiritsugu Emiya's art had not been lost upon his death, and revulsion at something meant to destroy magic at its core. "…so that's your inheritance."

Shiro nodded and looked back at the dying monster, which was steadily dissolving into a pool of multi-colored slime. Kirei smiled inwardly.

_So the Magus Killer has a legacy. This could prove interesting._

The three cautiously walked forwards, gingerly stepping over piles of ruined flesh and pools of ichor towards the humanoid figure lying in the middle. The skin had been burned off as though by acid, while bloody eyes rolled madly in their sockets and bloody fingers struggled to hold his organs together. "This is gruesome." Rin said, unknowingly latching onto Shiro's arm and moving closer.

"Yes quite…" Kirei agreed, surprised at the revulsion mixing with amusement within. He had expected to enjoy the rogue magus' suffering, but the revulsion surprised him. That was a surprise. "…and now to end it all…" He said while throwing a Black Key and setting what was left of the Viscount on fire.

"…come, let us depart this place." He said, leading the way out. "It's only a couple of hours until sunrise, but you should go home regardless. We can deal with the leftovers later. It's been a long night."

"Yes it has." Rin said, and then noticing her position let go of Shiro's arm with a slight blush and a prim cough. Shiro Emiya being Shiro Emiya, just gave her a puzzled look that she waved off.

"I'm tired."

"You're not the only one."

* * *

><p>"Well isn't this an unusual sight." Sakura Matou commented over breakfast as she filled her cousin's rice bowl. "Good morning to you Father Kotomine. Is there any particular reason you're joining us for breakfast?"<p>

"He's here to tell us about the events of last night." Medea commented as she followed Kirei into the dining room, and used magic to move additional plates and utensils from storage onto the table.

"It's been dealt with?" Shinji Matou asked before putting rice and meat into his mouth, and Kirei nodded.

"That it has." He confirmed. "The Association's Enforcers will be here the day after tomorrow to cleanup and to recover what can be recovered. Or are you interested in what's left of the fugitive's research?"

"No thank you." Shinji said as Sakura and Medea choked on the suggestion, and Kirei grinned at their discomfort. "We've had enough of that line of research with…well you know."

"I wasn't aware that you feared his name." Kirei observed, and Shinji rolled his eyes.

"As if…" he said. "…I'm just using an ancient Egyptian curse that involves blotting out his name as much as possible."

"To speak the name of the dead is to make the person live…" Kirei quoted while starting on his breakfast. "…I see. That's very interesting…how far have you taken it?"

"Dad's altered the family register, while Sakura and I are cleaning out the research data." Shinji replied. "Sakura also ritually burned everything of the corpse's personal belongings and had his grave – for appearances sake – defiled."

"Defiled…?" Kirei echoed, and Medea laughed. The familiars Miu and Kurogane also laughed. Sakura primly finished chewing and swallowing before giving a reply. "I filled the empty coffin with manure." She replied, and Kirei raised an eyebrow. "And then I used acid to deface the gravestone."

"That seems a tad extreme."

"Really…?"

"…"

"I didn't think so."

Kirei coughed and looked around. "Moving on…" he began. "…where are the Matou siblings?"

Technically speaking, Medea was Byakuya and Kariya's sister but that was only for legal purposes. She shrugged before giving a reply. "Byakuya's working overtime…" she said. "…as you might expect the recent disappearances are causing a lot of trouble for the police. He's quite irritated that he can't really send them to fix the problem for secrecy purposes."

"And Kariya…?"

"He's being self-righteous." Shinji said, and Kirei blinked in surprise. "What? It's the truth."

"I hate to admit it, but Shinji's right." Sakura said while leaning back wearily. "Uncle Kariya can't seem to accept...the changes brought about by the Fourth Holy Grail War, or the murder of Aoi Tohsaka."

"That's to be expected."

Sakura shrugged without a care. "True…" she said, and then smiled poisonously causing Kirei to blink at the way she looked very much like the reincarnated Heroic Spirit sitting at the same table. "…but bad things happen all the time."

Shinji cackled. "That they do." He agreed. "If you can avoid them, then fine. But if you can't, then try and take advantage."

"So long as you're alive and well…" Medea finished with approval. "…and your goals are fulfilled, then it's fine."

* * *

><p>"Reckless…" Maiya Hisau said laconically, and Shiro winced. They were sitting on the Emiya Manor's veranda, and Tokiomi Tohsaka silently reclined on his wheelchair nearby. A few moments later and Rin arrived with morning tea. "…why didn't you wait for Rin to arrive?"<p>

"Well that's…"

"You were trying to play hero." Maiya said with an undercurrent of anger in her voice. "Shiro, I understand that Kiritsugu left you with his dreams and ideals, but there's not much point in holding onto them if they end up making you bite the dirt."

"Mom…!"

"No, Shiro…" Maiya said. "…you have to understand that sometimes justice is something that can only be achieved by looking away. Take last night for example: did you save anyone? No, you did not. Did rushing in accomplish anything? No, it did not apart from getting you captured and nearly being turned into a specimen. On the other hand if you had waited for Rin, then you might have been able to accomplish more in a shorter amount of time."

Shiro looked mutinous. Tokiomi coughed, and all turned to him. "Hisau…" he began delicately while accepting tea from Rin. "…at the risk of sounding like interfering into your family affairs, may I offer some advice to Emiya-kun here?"

Maiya looked thoughtful for a moment, and nodded. "Emiya-kun…" Tokiomi began. "…I cannot tell you how to live your life, or rather along which concepts you should live them by. That is something you must decide on your own, or is something you inherit from your forbears. From what your mother tells me your father has done that much, has he not?"

"He did." Shiro confirmed, and Tokiomi nodded before continuing.

"The ideals of justice and selflessness your father passed onto you are things to be cherished…" he said. "…but as with all ideals they have flaws and contradictions within." Shiro looked like he was about to say something, only to be preempted when Tokiomi raised a hand. "However those flaws and contradictions are your challenges. Challenges that only you can confront and overcome as you live your life. As such I will tell you this: you have the will to carry out your dreams, but you lack the strength to do so."

Shiro looked mutinous again, but eventually sighed and nodded. "That's true." He conceded, and Tokiomi smiled.

"Humble…" he said with approval. "…an excellent trait for an aspiring magus. Will without strength can achieve nothing, so I offer you my daughter's services as a tutor."

Rin choked on her tea. "Wait, what?" she said while blushing hard. Tokiomi blinked and stared at her.

"Precisely what I said." He reiterated. "Rin, this is a wonderful opportunity. I believe you are familiar with the concept of synthesis, are you not? Just as young Emiya will learn much from you, you too will learn much from him. The experiences you will gain from tutoring him in magecraft will be of excellent use for you as build your own mysteries."

Rin spluttered, and Maiya smiled with amusement. "Will compensation be required?" she asked, and Tokiomi smiled while toasting her with his teacup.

"I think not." He said. "I believe my daughter's edification by experience will be compensation enough."

"Hmm…it's not a bad idea…" Maiya returned with approval. "…they'll work well together."

Shiro and Rin alike looked pained, and the former eventually sighed and bowed somewhat formally. "I'll be in your care then." He said wearily. "I hope we'll get along."

Rin looked away, refusing to meet Shiro's eyes. "Y-you better work and study hard…" she stammered out. "…I'm going to run you ragged, you hear me?"

* * *

><p>AN

Well there we go.

As for what's next, I think I'll continue with character development for a few more chapters before beginning the war.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution

Chapter 6

Maiya Hisau sighed as she stared at the iron gates leading into the Matou Estate, while Akira looked around curiously as she held onto her mother's hand. Raising a hand, she pressed the electronic doorbell. A few minutes later and a voice responded.

"Who is it?"

"It's Maiya Hisau, Medea." She replied, and the line went dead. A few moments later and the front door opened in the distance and Medea walked out, dressed like a typical housewife (which would just flatter her if mentioned).

_Assuming housewives ever had pointed elfin ears._

"You're surprisingly earlier than expected." Medea observed as she opened the gates and let the pair in.

"I finish chores fast." Maiya said deadpan, and motioned to Akira. "Akira, say hello to Medea Matou."

"Good morning Ms. Medea." The four year-old responded cheerfully and with a wave. Medea smiled and nodded at her.

"Come on then." She said, gesturing to the house. "It's probably better if we talk inside."

A few minutes later and Maiya was sitting in the Matou living room, Medea sipping tea opposite her and Akira leafing through a picture book the witch had given her to pass the time. "So…" Medea began. "…how may I be of assistance?" Maiya took a deep breath, and began to explain.

_Flashback Begins_

_Maiya was busy cleaning the kitchen when she heard something come from the gardens, as though someone was softly crying. It wasn't all that unusual really, she'd heard people crying over all sort of things, and all over the place. She'd even made them cry more than once herself. Grief was perfectly natural and something to be expected on the battlefield._

_Even she was not immune to it._

_She carried on with her work until she realized that she wasn't on the battlefield, and that there was only one person in the whole house, to say nothing of the gardens, who could be crying. "Akira…!" she shouted as she ran from the kitchen, the drying cloth dropping forgotten to the floor as she rushed outside._

_Akira was crying on her knees near several bushes along the wall, and Maiya sank down to her level as she approached. "Akira, what's wrong?" she asked. "Why are you crying?"_

"_Mama…" Akira said as she noticed her arrival, and immediately latched onto her with a mix of panic and desperation. "…Mama, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…!"_

"_Akira, I don't…" Maiya began only to trail off in surprise. The bushes nearby were dead, their leaves blackened and shriveled, and their stems and branches dry and hard, perfect for use as firewood and nothing else. "…what?"_

"_I'm sorry…" Akira babbled while crying into her mother's chest. "…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"_

"_Akira…" Maiya said soothingly while rubbing her daughter's back. "…it's alright. I don't blame you. But won't you tell Mommy what happened?"_

_Akira sniffed and wiped at her eyes before nodding. "I…I was chasing a squirrel when I tripped on a rock. The squirrel got away and I…"_

_Akira trailed off, and buried herself in her mother's arms while shakily pointing to something under the bushes. Maiya directed her gaze accordingly, and her eyes widened as she noticed the bleached bones of a small animal lying under the petrified plants. "It's okay Akira…" Maiya said, embracing her comfortingly. "…it's okay…your powers are probably just waking up, that's all. Mommy doesn't blame you."_

"_Powers…?"_

"_Yes, just like your brother, it seems that you have something special in you."_

_Flashback Ends_

"That's a rather interesting ability." Medea observed thoughtfully. "However I am surprised that you came to me rather than to Tohsaka."

"Tohsaka lost his ability to use magic…" Maiya returned dryly. "…no thanks to your daughter I might add, so he was the one who told us to inquire to you."

"And most likely taking advantage of my…sympathy to a fellow mother, huh?" Medea commented just as dryly, causing Maiya to smile slightly. "Oh well, I suppose I'm rather curious myself as to what your daughter has. Akira-chan, can you come here please?"

The girl blinked as she looked up from her picture book, and after looking at her mother for approval she went over to the witch's side. Medea placed a finger on her forehead for a few moments, and then patted her down. Medea rubbed her chin while thinking it through, and then smiled. "It's not magic." She finally said, and Maiya raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"What?"

"I know, interesting isn't it?"

"What is interesting?" mother and daughter asked at the same time, and Medea chuckled.

"Akira-chan here doesn't have magic circuits or a magic core, nor does she possess a sorcery trail like Divine Words or the Ancient Universal Language that would allow her to perform Thaumaturgy in their absence. She is something that didn't exist back during the Age of the Gods, and is an example of a new form of Human that is beginning to appear in this twilight – if my daughter and the King of Heroes are to be believed – of the Age of Man. She is psychic."

"Psychic…?" Maiya echoed, and Medea nodded.

"An evolution of the Human race brought about by its increasing aloofness from nature." She said while sipping from her tea cup. "It grants certain individuals abilities comparable to – if somewhat inferior – those of demons and phantasmal species. Due to the current unstable form of this evolution the nature of the abilities is rather varied from individual to individual, and there is no guarantee that they will be inherited by the next generation."

"So what's her ability?"

"The ability to manipulate life energy…" Medea answered with a shrug. "…it seems that she has the ability to drain life from living things, and possibly to do the reverse as well." Pausing, Medea turned to Akira. "Akira-chan, what were you feeling back then?"

Akira looked blankly at Medea for a few moments before looking downcast. "I…" she began hesitantly. "…I was angry that I tripped…and the squirrel got away…I felt something…I raised my hands…and then…"

Medea nodded and patted her comfortingly on the head, and the girl looked up at her. Medea smiled. "It's alright, I don't blame you. Your mother doesn't blame you. Your powers just woke up, and we'll teach you how to use it properly so bad things don't happen again."

"Really…?"

"Yes of course!" Medea said, and Akira looked questioningly at her mother who nodded and patted the seat beside her.

"So what do we do about this?" Maiya asked as Akira rushed back to her side.

"I know of psychics…" Medea said. "…but not how to train them or what kind of equipment they use. Psychics didn't exist in my time after all. Damn that Tohsaka, using me as a mere detector for abilities…anyway, I suggest you talk to him about how to train your daughter to control and restrain her abilities, as well as ancillary equipment she might need."

"I see…" Maiya said while sipping her own tea. "…I appreciate this you know."

Medea smiled. "It's alright I don't blame you for being concerned about your daughter. I perfectly understand."

Maiya smiled back, and nodded her thanks.

* * *

><p>"Don't you think there's anything wrong with what you're wearing?" Shinji Matou observed as he walked down the hallway of Homurabara Academy with his cousin. Sakura Matou stopped walked, and turned to look at him, blinking quizzically.<p>

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" she asked. She was wearing the normal school uniform, and while her blue hair and eyes were a source of attention, they could easily be hand-waved away as something from her foreign heritage. Okay that was an understatement, but most people didn't need to know that. And it wasn't like she had an unusual hairstyle, her long hair tied into a ponytail that reached down to mid-back, with the exception of a pair of locks framing her face and held in place by a pair of finely-worked silver clips shaped like eagle wings.

"The cloak Sakura, the cloak is unusual." Shinji pressed, one of his eyes twitching, and Sakura rolled her eyes. So what if she wore blue instead of red, and had silver eagle wing designs along the cuffs and collars.

"I refuse to wear red." She replied flatly. "And I don't see why people would give me grief over it when they don't do the same for my sister."

"That's because it's part of the uniform!"

Sakura blinked. "No it isn't." she countered. "I checked the student's handbook. A cloak isn't part of the uniform at all."

"It isn't?"

"You moron, didn't you read the handbook?"

"Who are you calling a moron, smartass?"

"What was that?"

A burst of laughter interrupted their argument, and the two Matou glared to the side. "Who dares?" they simultaneously snapped, and Ayako Mitsuzuri laughed again.

"Arguing with your girlfriend, Matou?" she said with a grin, and Sakura blushed and flinched while Shinji blanched and coughed to regain his composure.

"She's not my girlfriend, she's my cousin: Sakura Matou." Shinji said, and Ayako's grin and amused expression were quickly replaced with surprise. "Sakura, this is Ayako Mitsuzuru from the Archery Club."

"It's nice to meet you, Mitsuzuri-senpai." She said with a polite bow.

"It's nice to meet you too." Ayako returned cheerfully. "Anyway, welcome to Homurabara Academy. The first week is rather hectic so if you ever need help, feel free to pop by and ask. Although from the look of things, your cousin is doing a good job helping you around. Where were you going anyway?"

"Baking Club…" Shinji said before Sakura could say anything, and jabbing a thumb at her while smirking playfully. "…she's got a sweet tooth the size of Mount Everest."

"I don't see you complaining whenever you reach a hand into the cookie jar back home." Sakura replied with false hurt in her voice, and playfully kicked Shinji's shin.

"Hey that hurt!" he protested, and then he sighed. "Look, why don't we just move on? Mitsuzuru, we're heading out now."

"Alright then…" she said with a nod, and then remembering something from their earlier conversation, asked something after the departing cousins. "…I didn't know there was another Matou here. Your sister…?"

Sakura grinned over a shoulder. "She's my half-sister, Rin Tohsaka. You know the one with the red cloak. Same father, different mothers…"

"Was that wise?" Shinji asked as Sakura cackled at the equally dumbfounded and crafty expression on Ayako's face at her reply.

"…who cares?" Sakura said. "At any rate my sister's too damn serious, she needs to loosen up."

"I'm pretty sure she loosens up with the Emiya boy she hangs around with." Shinji observed. "How utterly tasteless…"

"Jealous…?"

"…as if…" he replied with a roll of his eyes. "…that girl is too domineering. She's pretty I'll admit, but she's too acidic for my taste."

* * *

><p>Shiro stared blankly at his 'tutor' as she tore into her packed lunch as though it had insulted her ancestors. Granted it was flattering that she implicitly enjoyed his cooking, but this was ridiculous. "Rin…" he began. "…why don't you slow down? It's not like lunch break is about to end."<p>

"I don't see how fast I eat is part of your business." Rin snapped before continuing to eat…and then promptly began to choke as something went down the wrong way. Sighing, Shiro picked up a can of milk tea and offered it to her, and patted her helpfully on the back as she recovered. "Thanks…"

"No problem…" he returned. "…so what's bothering you?"

"…nothing…"

"It's Matou isn't it? The new Matou girl, Shinji's cousin..." Shiro said incisively, and Rin stonily looked to the side. "…she's not bad-looking, but you know jealousy isn't really…"

"…I am not jealous!" Rin exploded much to Shiro's surprise. "Who would be jealous of that backstabbing…?"

"…okay, you're not jealous. Family rivalry…?"

Rin scoffed and took another drink. "Shiro…" she began. "…you really need to learn how to direct your attentions accordingly, as well as to know when not to look deeper."

"Sorry…" he said. "…but technically it was you who taught or rather drilled me to do precisely that."

"Smartass…" Rin said, but with amusement mixing with the anger. Shiro relaxed slightly, as it was clear that Rin was beginning to calm down. "…alright, since you want to look deeper, we'll take your training up a notch. Father's been making me clean out some of our older storerooms, and I've found a few mystic codes. Outdated, but they'll be useful for your training with regards to advanced conceptual analysis and synthesis. Let's see how far we can take your 'sword' this time."

"Fine…" Shiro conceded. "…when…?"

"The usual time…" she said. "…also since those are Tohsaka property, we'll be conducting training in my house this time."

Shiro nodded more enthusiastically, as this would mean Tokiomi Tohsaka would be participating as well. The man was rather dry, and at times slightly condescending, but his advice was always sound and he could reign Rin in whenever she went too far. Considering her perfectionist tendencies, that actually happened a lot of times.

The rest of their lunch carried on with small talk, and as the warning bells rang Shiro and Rin packed up their things and went back down from the roof. "Something's off…" Rin noted as they arrived on their floor and split off to their respective classrooms.

"That seems obvious." Shiro agreed, noting the way people were covertly stealing glances at Rin and were whispering among themselves. The final bells rang, and they separated. "See you later, Rin."

"…right…" she returned half-heartedly, and proceeded towards and into her classroom. By the time she reached her desk, her temper was on full boil, considering the words she's picked up from her classmates' gossip.

_Mistress…affair…wedlock…someone's been talking, and I think I know who it is!_

"Rin…" a familiar voice began at behind her, and she turned to see her friend Ayako looking at her concernedly. "…we need to talk."

Rin sighed. Well, it was logical that Ayako of all people would know about what was going on around the student body – outside of Suzumiya and his insane but capable council – given her somewhat sisterly demeanor. "…about what?"

Ayako opened her mouth to reply, but the teacher arrived and she instead signed that they talk later. Rin nodded in agreement, and turned her thoughts to class.

* * *

><p>"Well this is certainly faster than I expected." Sakura observed smartly later that afternoon, gazing with mixed amusement and embarrassment as an outraged Rin Tohsaka confronted her in the middle of the school quadrangle after class. "How've you been?"<p>

"Shut up!" Rin exploded. "How dare you spread rumors about father?"

"Rumors…?" Sakura echoed blankly. "I am not a rumormonger. I simply said that we were half-sisters, with the same father and different mothers. It is hardly my fault if people jump to conclusions."

Rin's eyes bulged and she would probably have tackled Sakura then and there had an exasperated Ayako not restrained her. Sakura for her part was struggling to hold her laughter in, although only through great effort. "How can they not jump to conclusions?" Rin spluttered angrily, although the rest of her words were completely unintelligible.

"Right…" Sakura said before exaggeratedly looking at her wristwatch. "…good grief, look at the time, and I was having so much fun too. Cheerio, then…!"

Sakura turned to leave, and Ayako found herself heaving as she struggled to hold Rin back. "Calm down Rin!" she desperately said. "It's just a few rumors! People will forget in a week or so."

"They'll still be talking to me during that time!" Rin burst out. "Sakura, I'm going to get you back for this!"

"Emiya…!" Ayako said desperately as she spotted an exasperated Shiro approaching. "A…little help…would be appreciated…over your girlfriend here!"

Silence fell across the quadrangle, which had hitherto echoed with the chuckles and whispers of students watching the family drama unfolding between the 'siblings'. Now, the profound silence was only broken by the sound of the afternoon breeze, as everyone stared at the blushing Rin and Shiro. Sakura broke the silence. "Oh my…"

Then Shinji laughed. Everyone else followed suit, and the whispering began again. Rin began to shake, and Ayako's face fell as she realized what just happened.

"**AYAKO…!**"

* * *

><p>Shinji stretched as he entered his workshop, intent on finishing some work after dinner and before bed. Kurogane flew in through an open window – protected by a bounded field of course – and settled down on a nearby perch as Shinji put on a leather apron and gloves before heading for his work desk. "<em>It looks to me that you'll be finished soon, youngster.<em>" The crow observed.

Shinji shook his head as he put on a breathing mask. "Not quite…" he disagreed, and Kurogane preened his feathers. "…the mystic code will be finished, but it'll be…empty."

"_Really now…and people call us carrion birds. Are you sure you want to do this?_"

Shinji nodded as he opened a sealed container and pulled out a thick and metal-bound book, its pages made from parchment as opposed to paper. Non-Nordic runes were engraved across the spine and on the book casing, and the magus placed it right next to a deep metal tray. Next he took out a metal cylinder and opening it, poured the mercury-based solution into the tray.

_Mercury is silvery in color, but it should not glow like this, nor should it kill non-magical beings on touch._

Working carefully – the solution would not kill him but it would still leave him catatonic if it touched his bare flesh – he filled a special syringe with the solution and used it to fill in the runes on the book. Holding the book such that the liquid metal did not spill out of the runes, he used a pen-like device that glowed red-hot on one end to transmute and fuse the solution into the book.

Considering the slow and delicate nature of the work, it was an hour and a half before all the runes had been filled and treated. Setting the book aside, Shinji took his tools and the tray and placed them in a special furnace in one corner of his workshop. "_Is this really necessary?_" Kurogane wondered as he flew over and perched on his master's shoulder. "_It seems rather wasteful to just burn your tools like this._"

"I can just remake them." Shinji replied, his voice muffled by the mask he was wearing. "And besides, considering how dangerous the solution I made was, this is probably for the best."

Closing the furnace doors after throwing in his gloves, mask, and apron as well, Shinji opened the gas valve, and lit the furnace on full burn. Incineration through the night should finish the job, though the ashes would have to be disposed of among 'dangerous' trash in the morning.

With the sound of the furnace echoing across his workshop, Shinji walked back to his desk and picked up the book. Holding it one hand and placing the other on top, he closed his eyes and visualized his mental trigger: a shadowy serpent striking with the power to disintegrate flesh and pulverize bone, and he felt a familiar numbness spread through him as his circuits opened.

"Metal and blood…" he whispered, the runes glowing bright blue as he fed prana and crystallized his mysteries within the book. "…parchment and quicksilver, accept my atonement of life, and bind the unquiet ones to your pages, as you are bound to me."

The runes flared bright, and Shinji opened his eyes as he closed his circuits. He walked over to the window and despite the fact that he had created it with his own blood, slightly shivered as the _argent __éternelle _of his runes gleamed in the moonlight.

It was done. The first of many Books of Unquiet Spirits was complete.

_He just had to fill it._

* * *

><p>AN

And that's done. Mostly school comedy/drama, especially with Sakura being a troll – not too outlandish seeing as in Fate/Hollow Ataraxia she actually begins to pick up some of Rin's traits (or rather begins to manifest her Tohsaka side) – and showing off her eagle motif.

Shinji shows his side as a necromancer and blood mage here. Note than in the Nasu-verse 'spirit' and 'soul' are two entirely different things, though the explanation is a bit fuzzy. As it is, Shinji can only manage spirits, not souls, which require True Magic to manipulate competently.

Finally, appearance-wise Shinji doesn't have 'seaweed hair' (seriously WTF is with the hair) and wears it back in a ponytail like Kaji from NGE. He doesn't smirk all the time, and his default expression is a slightly bored and somewhat uncaring expression.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution

Chapter 7

Sakura Matou slept deeply on her bed, the pale moonlight filtering through her window curtains in narrow shafts. As she slept, something began to tug at her consciousness, her memories and her ancient magic subconsciously working a miracle that tugged her mind if not her body awake.

Slowly, as though she were being pulled up from a sea of darkness, the magus found herself waking to find herself floating in space, and gazing on the glowing, blue orb of the Earth. "Earth…?" she whispered, and then her eyes widened as slowly but steadily, blue turned to red, until the planet looked as though it had been dripped in blood.

Abruptly, she found herself down onto the ground. Coughing at the acrid touch of the air on her throat, and rose to her knees. Again her eyes widened as she looked around, and she stood. "What is this…?" she asked again.

The land was dead. The sky was tinted red with blood, and Sakura just knew that it really was blood, the blood of an impossibly powerful and alien being slain at great cost by the last, valiant survivors of Humanity.

_Only Humans could possibly hope to survive on a dead world. And only Humans could have brought this eventuality to pass._

Sakura turned to the side and drawn by something she walked up a nearby hill and blinked at the sight of a frontier city built atop and around a towering tree-like construct in the distance. Angelic figures floated around the tree and over the town, and Sakura shivered. Humans lived in the city, she knew it, but somehow she knew that those Humans were far stronger than any Human of the modern age could possibly be.

She looked up at the bloody sky, and knew that the air was poison. How could it not be? Gaea was dead. Humanity's creator, the same one who had betrayed it by chaining it to the ground and jealously holding it back from its true destiny was slain, but even now the betrayal continued. The air was filled with…something. Something meant to spitefully kill the creation that had surpassed the creator.

_This may be a dream, but there's something about this…dust in the air that draws me. Is it related to my ether affinity? I'll have to remember this when I awake…it may prove useful to my research._

"Regent of Babylonia…" Gilgamesh's voice echoed in her ears, and a startled Sakura looked around for the King in vain. "…the stars sing to us, inviting us to join our voices with theirs to sing of victory everlasting, but the planets will not relinquish the chain of slavery over their 'creations' so easily. By my will the fate of the Human race is yours to arbitrate, but do not underestimate the enemy's cunning, their deceit, and their destructive power."

A shadow fell across Sakura, and slowly crept across the ground towards the city. Terror gripped her heart, terror of such a degree that she had never felt before, not even before the vile pit to which she would have been condemned had fate not been kinder. But she fought it back, retaking control of her body with an iron will.

_This may be a dream, but I will die not as cowering prey, but as a proud and free being._

Glaring in defiance, Sakura and looked up at the sky…and gaped at the multi-kilometer cross of gleaming metal slowly approaching the city behind her. "Impossible…" she whispered. "…that's what we face? You've got to be kidding me."

Something flashed along its underbelly, and Sakura's eyes went wide as a cross-shaped projectile hurtled down towards her. She grimaced as death closed, even if only in a dream.

"Spirits damn you monster."

Sakura woke gasping, abruptly sitting up and wearily rubbing at her forehead. She sat on her bed for a few minutes before taking a deep breath and moving to open her curtains. She stared out of the windows and up at the clear blue skies.

_The sky was the color of blood._

Sighing once more, Sakura turned to get ready for school. "The end of the Human race, huh?" she whispered as she rummaged through her closet. "I won't let that happen."

* * *

><p>Rin Tohsaka strode purposefully down the hallway to where the Baking Club was assigned. She hated this. She needed to talk to her. She had a question that needed to be answered. She had to be resolute, and stern. She had to appear as though she hated her.<p>

_But she could never hate Sakura. Not even after everything she'd done. Not even after she'd murdered their mother._

As she approached the Baking Club, Rin unhappily found her mouth beginning to water at the smells wafting from inside the room. Chocolate…strawberry…mint…she had once considered joining the club herself, but the warm and welcoming atmosphere they encouraged among their members had clashed with the persona – or rather façade – she had built up as the Tohsaka heiress.

_Not to mention I'll get fat._

The jumbled sounds of the club – mixed voices of girls and a few boys along with the clatter of tools and utensils – jumped at her as she opened the door and walked over to Shizune Miyamura, the faculty advisor for the club. "Excuse me sensei…" Rin began and injecting prana into her voice so as to convince the teacher much more easily. "…may I speak with Matou for a moment?"

The teacher nodded and motioned over to Sakura, who was currently putting a baking sheet into an oven. Sakura looked over after closing the oven and setting the timer, and grimaced slightly at the sight of Rin. Rin wilted slightly on the inside at the sight. Sakura meanwhile took off her apron and oven mitts before striding over. "May I be of assistance?" she asked politely as she arrived, and the teacher gestured to Rin.

"Tohsaka-san here needs to speak with you for a moment." She said, and Rin gestured outside before leading the way and after giving a sigh, Sakura followed.

"Do you need something?" Sakura asked as she closed the door behind her, and merely raised an eyebrow as a bounded field fell into place around them.

"Where's Shinji?" Rin asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just answer the question."

"_Quid pro quo…_" Sakura replied, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall beside the door.

Rin rolled her eyes and took a moment to calm down. "I'm the de facto Supervisor of this territory." She said. "I have a responsibility to…oversee the activities of all magi operating within the territory, and considering that your cousin is a magus the fact that he's skipping school barely a month into the school year is something I can't just ignore."

Sakura stayed silent, her piercing blue eyes gazing into Rin equally blue and piercing ones. After a moment she blinked and smiled, and with a degree of warmth that Rin hadn't seen in a long time. "…you'll be a better Supervisor than father was in his day, that much is for sure." Sakura said, and Rin fought down her anger, unwilling to exacerbate the existing schism with her sister.

_Even if it was you who left father in ruins as he is today._

"Shinji's currently 'touring' Central Honshu and the Kyoto region right now. He's gathering materials for his research." Sakura continued while heading back to the Baking Club. "I can't say much more than that, assuming that I know more. Magi secrecy, you know?"

"I see…" Rin said with a nod. "…thank you for your cooperation."

"Sister…" Sakura said abruptly as Rin dispelled the bounded field and began to walk away. "…you should stop pretending. There's no need for you to pretend, seeing as you don't truly understand father and myself."

Rin whirled, anger and resentment ablaze in her eyes and on her face only to be stopped cold by Sakura's own facial expression. There was no anger or hatred there, indeed, no negative emotions at all. There was only…a faint melancholia. "And I pray and hope that you never do." She said as she opened the door and walked in. "After all, Human beings can only truly understand what they experience in person."

The door closed softly behind her, and Rin grimaced alone in the corridor, grinding her teeth as tears pooled in the corners of her eyes. "Damn it…" she said as she wiped them away, and walked off back to her own club activities.

* * *

><p>Sparks showered across a sweating, goggled and heavily-dressed Shiro Emiya, the deafening sound of metal against stone filling the air as he sharpened a pair of grass shears against a prana-powered rotary grindstone. Other garden tools – already sharpened – lay on a nearby table. "And that's done." He said wearily as he raised the sharpened tool to examine it and stopped the grindstone. "I still don't know how this is supposed to help my magic…"<p>

"Oh good…" Rin said as she pushed her father just outside the garden shed. "…we were wondering if you were slacking off, but it turns out you're finished. Well done."

Rin walked over, and picked up the tools to examine them one by one in the faded, golden light of the evening twilight. She then looked at Shiro, and noted his tired and sweating visage. "Hmm…" she mused aloud. "…it looks like you need to build up your prana reserves and physical endurance some more. Well in the case of the latter you're already a member of the Archery Club, so it should take care of itself given time. As for the former…"

Rin paused and gave a crafty smile at her father who smiled back at her, and giving Shiro a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "…what did you learn?" she asked.

"What?"

"What I just said: what did you learn from this exercise?"

"Um…I need to build up my prana reserves and endurance?"

Rin's smile turned wooden and sighing, activated her crest and tapped each of the sharpened tools with her finger once. Shiro spluttered in outrage as their edges dulled and darkened.

"Hey what are you…?"

"You'll sharpen them again tomorrow…" Rin said sternly. "…until you figure out what the point of the exercise is beyond the obvious."

"Beyond the obvious…?" Shiro echoed before lowering his head in thought. "Wait a minute…"

"Oh good; have you finally realized it?"

"…this exercise…was meant for me to…I was supposed to study the shifts in conceptual and fundamental structures of the tools…while they were being sharpened?"

"Excellent Emiya-kun…" Tokiomi congratulated him. "…you understand the point of this exercise, albeit somewhat belatedly. You will repeat tomorrow as my daughter said, although afterwards additional training will be put on hold. In the meantime you will compile what you learn from the exercise into written form, complete with multi-dimensional diagrams and conceptual calculations."

Shiro blanched at the magical 'homework' being given to him: he wasn't particularly good at the theoretical side of things. Rin noticed and smiled at him, once again giving him a sinking feeling.

"I know you don't like theory Shiro…" she began. "…but you have to get used to knowing and writing it up. Whether it's science or magic, theory and practical are both equally important."

"I know I know…" he said exasperatedly. "…I'll do it somehow. I still remember what you said back when we started: to be a successful magus requires not just talent, but also effort, determination, and hard work."

Rin nodded approvingly, and moved to leave. "Training is over for today Shiro…" she said while pushing her father's wheelchair before her. "…come on, I've prepared an early dinner for us."

Shiro nodded back, and followed after cleaning up the garden shed. He took a short detour to the toilet to change clothes and then proceeded to the dining room. "Japanese…?" he said questioningly as he entered, and Tokiomi smiled at Rin as though saying 'I told you so' and causing the girl to glare at her apprentice.

"Is there a problem?" she asked crossly.

"Well no…" he blurted out, trying to calm her down. "…it's just that I didn't think that you were capable of cooking Japanese cuisine…"

Rin's eyebrows began to twitch, and Shiro began to sweat. Fortunately Tokiomi didn't care much for a magical duel in his dining room, and caught both of their attentions with a cough. "As amusing as your master-student interactions are…" he began delicately. "…the food is getting cold."

Shiro nodded in agreement and proceeded to his seat once a flushed Rin had given a huff of anger and stomped off to serve dinner. "So Emiya-kun…" Tokiomi began once dinner was underway and things had calmed down. "…how is your sister's training progressing?"

"It's going well." Shiro said while Rin choked on her meal.

"Training…?" she echoed. "I didn't know Akira-chan was a magus."

She gave a flat look at Shiro who fidgeted under her gaze. "She's not a magus, she's a psychic." He desperately said, unwilling to provoke her again.

"A psychic…?" she echoed. "That sounds interesting…what's her special ability? Telepathy…? Precognition…?"

"Life manipulation…" Tokiomi said while taking a drink of his tea, and Rin turned to him.

"What?"

"…young Akira's ability is life manipulation." He said. "She has the ability to drain the life energy of other living beings, and manipulate it to enhance her physical attributes. There's also an as-of-yet untapped healing factor, and potentially the ability to perform all those on other individuals. There could be other abilities under the broad term of 'life manipulation'. Of course there are limitations, but she's still young. There's ample time to explore the possibilities, and no need to rush things."

"I see…" Rin said thoughtfully and with a nod. "…wait, who figured out her abilities? I know Aunt Maiya's a spell-caster, but the Emiya magecraft is supposed to be almost completely lost what with the Association seal on all pre-Kiritsugu research and the destruction of Uncle Kiritsugu's crest. As for you father…well never mind…was it Kirei?"

Tokiomi pondered his answer for a moment. He could of course lie and say that it was Kirei, but Rin might ask the priest. And for all his faults the treacherous bastard was **NOT **a liar. It was probably best that Rin learn it from him as opposed to Kirei.

"No…" he finally said. "…Hisau came to me, but I directed her to Medea Matou instead. She uncovered the extent of young Akira's abilities, and Hisau returned to me to organize her training. She may not have to utilize it extensively in the future, but she should learn how to control it at the least. Life manipulation is as dangerous as it is useful."

Rin nodded in agreement, and much to Tokiomi's surprise showed no anger or resentment at the mention of the other victor – by default – of the Fourth Holy Grail War (the other victor being Sakura of course). Shiro however looked thoughtful. "Is something the matter, Emiya-kun?" he asked.

"I'm just surprised that's all." Shiro replied.

"Oh?"

"It's just that my parents always warned me to stay away from either Medea or her daughter Sakura, and to be wary about the other members of their family." He explained. "And yet she went to her for Akira…"

Shiro's voice trailed off, but Tokiomi was already nodding in understanding. "Medea is dangerous…" he said, careful to avoid revealing her true nature as a reincarnated Heroic Spirit. Rin already knew, but Shiro…he probably didn't need to know it. "…probably as dangerous as her namesake, but I know of her. Hisau and her daughter approached as guests, and Medea treated them as such. She will not harm those who call upon her hospitality. That much is certain."

"She's not so bad then…" Shiro said, although internally he resolved to remain wary. Even if Medea wasn't a complete monster, then it just made her all the more dangerous since she would probably just as unpredictable as any other Human. Her daughter on the other hand…

"Shiro…?" Rin asked. "Is something wrong?"

"…Sakura…" he said, and both Rin and Tokiomi looked at each other uneasily. "…Sakura Matou is popular in her level, and is rather beautiful I have to admit. But…it's an alien, almost forbidden beauty. I don't know why, but she feels _wrong_. It's almost as if someone like her…it's almost like she shouldn't exist."

Tokiomi briefly closed his eyes. The boy had a point. Through Medea Sakura was a demi-goddess, even if only an eighth of her blood belonged to that of the Solar Titan Helios. But that kind of being should not exist in the Age of Man, at least not in such a stable form.

_Part-Humans of our age are unstable and dangerously flawed, as demonstrated by the Tohno and other human-demon hybrids of Japan._

"Emiya-kun…" he began. "…what do you know of the Phantasmal Species?"

"The Phantasmal Species…?" Shiro echoed. "They're the beings commonly seen as existing only in fairy tales, such as dragons, giants, elves, etc. Back during the Age of the Gods they existed in the world alongside Humanity, but when the Age of Man began, they slowly but steadily migrated into the Inner World, where no Human could possibly go. Today the only Phantasmal Species left in the world are the chimeras, and even then they isolate themselves in wildernesses far from the reach of Humanity."

"Fundamentally correct…" Rin agreed. "…although technically speaking True Ancestors and Dead Apostles are also considered as Phantasmal Species in their own right, the vampires."

"And as I recall from my own studies…" Shiro countered a bit smugly much to her irritation. "…whether or not they belong to the Phantasmal Species is hotly-debated among magi, considering that Dead Apostles are originally Humans to begin with. The True Ancestors are supposed to be extinct, apart from the White Princess though no one knows where she is, so it's a moot point in their case."

'Yes well…" Rin said with a cough. "…the gist of this is that Phantasmal Species are beings that cannot exist within the 'normal' rules of the world, and can be considered as embodiments of mysteries comparable to High Thaumaturgy. Furthermore, their circumstances also mean that actually being granted the privilege to view one can be considered as a miracle on par with True Magic."

"Full points to the two of you…" Tokiomi said approvingly. "…now, Emiya-kun: look beneath the obvious once more…"

Shiro blinked, and then an expression dawning comprehension and rising horror began to appear on his face. "No…" he said. "…that's impossible!"

"That's why it's called magic." Rin said mockingly.

"Sakura and Medea are phantasmal beasts…?"

"…they are and they are not…" Tokiomi said cryptically. Once again it was a truth in its own way, given that Servants are technically imperfect manifestations of the Third Magic. How much more for a reincarnated Heroic Spirit? "…what they are is something that you have to learn on your own. I would advise against asking though; neither might be willing to indulge your curiosity. Let this be a lesson to you Emiya-kun: direct your gaze accordingly, and that there are mysteries which should not be touched or even approached."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Of course they're dangerous." Tokiomi said. "Rin is dangerous too. I too am dangerous in my own way, and the same goes for you. With that said, I don't think you need to worry too much about those two. I know that there's no need to worry about them. Now let us continue our meal, it is getting cold."

_There's no need to worry about those two…yet._

* * *

><p>AN

With regards to Shiro and Rin's relationship: what relationship? They are master and student, although they clearly are attracted to each other. They aren't going out, but since they spend a lot of time with each other, everyone just assumes they're good friends. Until recently that is...

Rin's still worried about gaining weight (lol – she's like a typical teenager though she'd be pissed at anyone who told her that).

And finally Akira; she basically has something similar to Force Drain. She probably won't become a Nasu-version of Lord Nihilus though…


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution

Chapter 8

Rin Tohsaka blinked and tilted her head quizzically to the side, gazing back at the slightly-flushed face of Shiro Emiya. "Can you say that again?" she said.

Shiro coughed to regain his composure. "Like I said…" he began again. "…I was wondering if you had some free time this afternoon, given that classes are only up to lunch today. If that were the case, I was wondering if you'd…um…go out to town with me?"

_Yeah, he's definitely asking me out._

Needless to say, Rin was a bit…stumped, and she gaped at her apprentice who looked torn between anxiety, hope, and disappointment. "No…?"

Rin shook herself out of her shock-induced stupor and looked away while blushing and sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "I suppose…it's not such a bad idea." She began. "Dad's been harping on about me getting out of the house and school and enjoying myself once in a while…and I suppose there are worse people to hang with than you."

"Thanks…I think." Shiro said, cheering up despite the less than flattering end to Rin's reply (though he'd expected something like it from her). "So…after school then?"

"Obviously…" she said, although with a tone of amusement rather than derision. "…so where are we going?"

"Well I was thinking of taking you out to see a movie…although I don't really know what genre you like…"

Rin sighed. "That's not really something you should be saying when asking a girl out you know." She pointed out. "But…then again I've never been to a cinema before, and I rarely – if ever – watch anything on television, so I suppose I might as well give it a go. You can choose which one; I think you know me enough to know my likes and dislikes. And then what?"

"Food…?" Shiro essayed, and then belatedly remembering Rin's concerns regarding calories. "Something light…and then maybe I can take you through a mall or something?"

Rin smiled craftily at the last statement. "Can you afford me I wonder?" she asked, and then laughed as Shiro actually seemed to be mentally evaluating his savings. "Oh relax, I'm not going to empty your pockets. I might ask you to buy me something that might catch my fancy, but nothing too expensive."

"I am grateful for that."

"And again, that's not something you should be saying when asking a girl out." She pointed out, and actually laughed at his discomfort. "It makes you sound cheap. Although considering that most people in the school consider you a doormat of sorts…"

"That's a real confidence booster you know."

"…don't worry." Rin told him with a reassuring smile. "I think you're fine the way you are. And even if you sound cheap, I think I can trust you to give me a good time. Don't get any ideas though."

Shiro spluttered protests, and Rin laughed at his expense. He scowled and coughed to regain his composure. "The school gates at noon then…?"

"I'll be looking forward to it then."

* * *

><p>The train wound its way across the rural countryside of Central Honshu, the rice fields going past the windows at breakneck speeds. Considering the time of day – early afternoon – there was an unsurprisingly small number of passengers on the train. Mostly elderly people travelling a short distance to visit friends or family in nearby towns and villages, along with a scattering of younger children who were probably there for the some reason.<p>

And there was Shinji Matou.

Cloaked in a glamor spell maintained by a mystic code he kept pinned to his shirt, the young magus was currently leafing through his notes while dosing himself with a blood-replenishing elixir. The familiar Kurogane was perched on his shoulder, the crow using its own innate illusion-crafting powers to avoid being noticed.

_Unsurprisingly even the dullest, most mundane Human would notice a crow following a boy around._

"_Perhaps you should take it easy for a while, youngster._" Kurogane counselled his master. "_You've been running yourself ragged for the past two days now. Even with all the elixirs you've been taking, eventually the strain of everything you're doing will catch up with you._"

"_I know that._" Shinji responded telepathically. "_But I can't stop now. I've come this far, and I might as well see it through._"

Kurogane snorted, and Shinji smirked with amusement at the Human-like gesture from the crow familiar. "_You Humans and your pride…_" the crow said unhappily. "_…it's going to get you killed someday, you mark my words youngster._"

"_Consider them marked._"

"_At the very least take some time to rest before heading for Kyoto._" The crow asked, and Shinji actually seemed to consider it, much to his relief. "_Binding a...degenerate soul is significantly more difficult than mere unquiet spirits. You should at least build up your natural strength before attempting to do so. Personally I don't think elixir-induced strength and such is as reliable as your own power._"

"_Good point…_" Shinji agreed, and then started as the train's PA system announced the next station. "_…that's our stop. Same routine: we go to a motel, rent a room, and tonight we'll head out to the countryside and do what we came here to do._"

"_I assume you'll be preparing in the meantime?_"

"_No…_" Shinji replied much to his familiar's surprise. "_…you made a good argument regarding personal power and elixir-induced power. I think I'll get some sleep in the meantime, and maybe eat something before heading out. At any rate, we've filled three books already, so I already have some intuitive grasp of what needs to be done tonight. There's no need for extensive preparation._"

"_If you forget something…_" Kurogane began as the train slowed and stopped at the station. "_…I'll make certain to remind you._"

"_I'll be counting on you then._" Shinji replied cheerfully after gathering his things and heading for the door.

* * *

><p>"So which movie do you want to watch?" Shiro asked as he and Rin arrived at the cinema. There had been a number of shocked and surprised – as well as jealous – glances when he and Rin had met at the school gates earlier, even more so given that it was the first time Rin had actually latched onto his arm in public.<p>

_Especially more so given the little uproar Sakura kicked up back during the start of the school year._

Personally Shiro didn't mind having Rin as a girlfriend. She was smart, pretty, and caring (even if she didn't let it show much). She had a certain number of bad traits too: snappish, short-tempered, manipulative…but they balanced out with her good ones. And besides: no one was perfect.

He didn't care much to guess how Rin thought of his traits though.

_Women's thoughts are no place a man should go near._

Rin for her part was looking appraisingly at the movie posters lining the cinema walls, trying to choose which film to watch. Most were sci-fi flicks, and as such below her notice. One: as a magus she had a healthy disdain for most things modern. Two: the first reason was actually just a formality, and it was simply because she had…difficulties with regards to understanding and using technology.

_There's not much point watching a film and having the experience ruined by not understanding the plot due to misunderstanding and such._

Of course she could just ask Shiro but…never mind. Masters do not ask apprentices to explain what they don't understand. The term 'master' wouldn't really mean much if they did. Other films were mushy romance flicks, and Rin barely succeeded in restraining the blush that threatened to appear on her face at the thought of watching such films with Shiro.

_It's probably for the best not to give hormonal teenagers like us ideas._

One romance poster actually caused her to snort audibly, considering the blonde actor posing in the center with a frilled and open shirt showing off his chest. How utterly **tasteless**…apart from those, only one other film caught her attention and interest. Going by the poster, it was a fantasy film of some sort…and far more relatable to a respectable magus like herself.

"That one…" she said to Shiro, and indicated the film with a jab of her thumb. "…let's watch Dragon Age: Origins."

"Somehow I knew you would want to watch that." He said wryly as he led her over to the ticket cashier and purchased a pair of tickets for them both. "Well it's a good film. I don't think it quite achieved what the producers wanted, but the film is a fan favorite of the genre, so I hear they're making a sequel these days."

"You've watched it before then?"

"Yes…" he replied. "…basically the main character is the last of an ancient order of guardians who must unite the land and face off against the Arch-demon to defeat an ancient foe all the while dealing with a civil war that's tearing the kingdom apart."

"Do they succeed?" Rin asked as they bought popcorn and drinks before heading into the cinema.

"Maybe…" Shiro said with a wink. "…I wouldn't want to spoil the story."

Rin smirked and focused back on the darkened interior of the theatre. The film hadn't started yet, at least for another ten minutes. "Then you shouldn't have given me the summary." She pointed out playfully as they made their way to their chosen seats.

"Considering I just gave you the rough outline – or should I say conceptual framework – I don't think I've spoiled the story all that much."

"True…" Rin conceded with a laugh.

* * *

><p>Sakura Matou picked a pawn off of the chessboard, and regarded it closely. The wind blew strongly in that moment, causing her blue cloak and hair to whip wildly around her. "I don't believe you." she said. "If what you say is true, that Humans are slaves to fate, then why then are there people like Gilgamesh, Alexander, Arthur, Joan of Arc, and so on?"<p>

"And yet…" the blonde businessman opposite her began. "…the very act of challenging the apparent order before them led to disaster did it not?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked angrily, and the businessman shrugged. The two of them were playing chess in a quiet corner of a park, Sakura in her school uniform and cloak, and the businessman in a blue business ensemble over a white shirt and a yellow tie.

"Precisely as I said…" he explained. "…Gilgamesh was born to rule over Humanity in the name of the gods, and in so doing cement their theocracy over them. But he defied that fate, and ruled Humanity in his own name. In so doing he lost his best friend, and eventually his kingdom and people vanished into the sands of history. His incarnation that you encountered seven years ago may claim to continue to rule over Humanity eternally, but if so…where is his kingdom now?"

Sakura ground her teeth, but the businessman continued regardless. "Alexander conquered the world in pursuit of his dream and he attained it, but just like Gilgamesh before him his kingdom was reduced to dust after his death. Arthur…? Britain destroyed itself during her reign, and even now 'Britain' is not the same realm she governed. She ruled over Britons…Britain today is an Anglo-Saxon nation: a nation of the very people she fought against. Joan…? She fought for France and God…but in the end both betrayed her. The King did nothing to stop the English from burning her at the stake, and neither did the Church of her God. In fact they denounced her as a heretic to the end. Only quite recently has that denouncement been withdrawn."

"So what's your point?" Sakura hissed as she made her move on the chessboard. "Are you saying that it's meaningless to dream? Since all our actions are for naught, we should not strive to become greater than we are?"

The businessman laughed. "Come now young Matou…" he said good-naturedly. "…I would not have called you here if that were the case. You after all are quite similar to those you have named earlier."

_Of course I am! I don't know how you found about mother, but…!_

"Rest assured…" the businessman said. "…I have no ill intentions to Princess Medea. I have a great deal of respect for her and her history."

_Bastard...! Did you read my mind?_

"Then get to the point." Sakura snarled, and the businessman smiled and raised his hands in a placating manner.

"Very well…" he said. "…let us get to the point. As you know, in its current state Humanity is at the mercy of both of its collective subconscious – Alaya – and that of the planet's consciousness – Gaea."

Sakura snorted. "I know." She said angrily. "My goal is to break them free of those two abominations by hyper-accelerating Humanity's evolution to a point where a collective subconscious cannot exist, and where individual Humans are capable of fighting full power True Ancestors on equal terms."

The businessman nodded with approval. "The Ubermensch as foreseen by Friedrich Nietzsche in physical form…" He said. "…a laudable goal. But what happens then?"

"We will ascend to the stars and claim our rightful place amongst them." Sakura replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Transcendental Humanity would have no need or inclination to remain on Gaea's rotting corpse. No doubt Gaea's bastard siblings within the solar system will send their…avatars much like the Moon did long ago with Brunestud of the Crimson Moon…but we will destroy them just like we destroyed Gaea and the Crimson Moon."

"Magnificent…" the businessman concurred as he made his own move. "…you have seen this through. But you trust Gilgamesh's vision of the future too much."

"What…?" Sakura said in shock, botching her move as a result. The businessman chuckled as the thirteen year-old swore angrily.

"Gilgamesh believes that the stars will welcome Humanity among them." He said. "He believes that Humanity would be allowed to join their voices with theirs 'to sing of victory everlasting'. He is wrong. This universe believes in order. All universes do. Creation is a mechanical and balanced existence that inherently seeks to put in place anything that attempts to go beyond its place."

The businessman narrowed his mismatched eyes, and moved his queen. Sakura moved to counter, and he nodded. "Take for example the Human race…" he said. "…Humanity will overcome Gaea and transcend it. That is inevitable. I can practically guarantee it. But Gaea's siblings will move to avenge it, and by destroying Humanity restore the balance of creation. The result of that war is up in the air though."

Sakura was silent, and the businessman moved before continuing. "Assuming the Human race triumphs in that brutal war, what makes you think that the universe itself will not punish Humanity for getting above itself? The universe isn't good young Matou. It isn't evil either. Those are mere Human conveniences. Creation…it simply is. And it will put Humanity in its place, just because."

Sakura's eyes widened in horror as she shakily made a move, and the businessman smiled before making the last move of the game. "Checkmate."

Sakura sat silently as he stretched his arms. "I do not believe that the Human race – or any race for that matter – should simply live and die according to the whims of the so-called creative will at the heart of all creation." He said. "But freedom has a price. What price do you think freedom from that stifling will is worth? How would that freedom manifest?"

Sakura closed her eyes and breathed deeply to regain control. "What are you?" she asked without opening her eyes. "You know things that you should not possibly know. You're not a True Ancestor or a Dead Apostle. You're not a Counter-Guardian, a Divine Spirit, or a Heroic Spirit…not even a demon."

The businessman smiled. "What I am huh…" he echoed. "…I'll keep that secret for now. And please don't call me a god. I find such a term…offensive for reasons that are my own."

Sakura snorted and opened her eyes. Her opponent was gone. Vanished…and with a sigh she flicked her king and sent it tumbling on its side on the board. "Am I angry because I lost the game…" she whispered. "…or am I angry because I know you are right, and that saving Humanity is more complicated than I believed a few days ago?"

* * *

><p>"So what did you think of the movie?" Shiro asked Rin as they walked down the street from the cinema towards a diner where Shiro had eaten before.<p>

"It wasn't so bad…" she replied, latched onto his arm as though it were perfectly natural. "...the Arch-demon being defeated so easily aside – True Demons are virtually invincible you know that Shiro – the magic was relatively believable – though not so much as to require intervention from our side – as were the politics of Ferelden."

"It was…?"

"Absolute monarchy did not evolve in Europe until well after the Middle Ages you know." Rin pointed out. "In medieval times, kings had to rule with the consensus of the feudal lords, and that was depicted quite well by the Landsmeet in the film. It was very similar to the Reichstag of the historical Holy Roman Empire."

"You're quite smart." Shiro said, and Rin preened at the praise.

"Of course I am!" she exclaimed. "I'm your master after all."

Shiro just smiled back and then looking forward down the street, he noticed a small antiques store hidden along the corner. "Hey…" he began.

"What…?"

"Do you want to look at that antique store over there?" he asked. "It might have something to catch your fancy."

Rin weighed the option briefly. On one hand she was slightly offended by Shiro's insinuation that she was an old-fashioned girl…okay perhaps that wasn't too far from the truth considering her heritage. However on the other hand he did have a point. Preconceptions aside, antique stores sold more than just old furniture and odd curiosities. She might actually find something interesting inside.

"Okay let's go."

Shiro nodded and led Rin into the store, a bell announcing their entry. An anachronistically-dressed old man nodded at them from the counter, and the two teenagers carefully made their way past shelves while looking around them. "I've no use for crystal or china Shiro…" Rin said amusedly as she noticed him looking with interest at a collection of European glass, silver, and china.

"I was just looking."

"Right…" Rin's voice trailed off as she spotted a collection of porcelain dolls sitting on a nearby shelf. She carefully looked over them, and then selected a smaller one with black hair and attired in a brightly-colored Victorian-era dress and sunhat.

"It looks like you, you know." Shiro quipped.

"Doesn't it?" she agreed absent-mindedly, picking it up to look at it closer.

"Still, I never thought you'd be into dolls." Shiro continued before grinning. "And I doubt if you'd ever be able to wear a dress like that."

"Shut up."

"That's a fine selection Miss." The old man said behind them, and they turned to look at him in surprise, not having noticed his approach. "Genuine Victorian-era and British-made dolls…of course, being originals…"

The old man's voice trailed off, but Rin was already nodding. "How much?" she asked.

The old man closed his eyes briefly. "Twenty thousand yen." He said, and Shiro blanched. Rin however nodded and led the way back to the counter.

"You'll be taking me to dinner anyway won't you?" she said to Shiro before he could say a word, and handed a pair of crisp, ten thousand yen bills to the old man.

"Thank you for your patronage…" the old man said as he accepted the money and packaged Rin's purchase. "…and please come again."

Rin nodded and after taking hold of Shiro's arm once more, left the shop. "That was a rather expensive purchase." Shiro observed as they proceeded on their way again.

"Isn't it?" Rin agreed. "You're a terrible date do you know that? Making a girl pay for her present…" Rin trailed off and laughed as Shiro spluttered his protests. "…but it's alright. I had fun today. I wouldn't mind doing this again, albeit with less expense in the future."

"Yes, yes…" he said, and then blushed as his stomach rumbled in hunger and Rin laughed again.

"No seriously…" she said before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "…I really did enjoy this outing. We should do this again…now then, seeing as your stomach has made its feelings known shall we get something to eat?"

"…whatever you say Rin…"

* * *

><p>AN

Rin and Shiro have a date, and this time I took a cue from Katawa Shoujo with the antique store and the porcelain doll.

Shinji's being busy, more on that in the future.

I've finished the concepts for the sequel, and I've laid the groundwork for it with Sakura and that mysterious businessman she met at the park for a chess game and a discussion on the future and the Lovecraft Lite nature of the Nasu-verse.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients

Chapter 9

Shinji Matou carefully carved his magic circle onto the ground under the moonlit sky, or rather drew out the water from the grass and used their blackened and dead forms to mark out his magic circle. No doubt Rin Tohsaka would have been stunned at this display of magecraft, considering that she and most others knew that the Matou bloodline should have died out in his generation, and that he was only a magus due to 'borrowed' circuits from his father and uncle.

_And in a way they were right._

Shinji was born with dead magic circuits, and would normally have been incapable of magecraft. But he still possessed the Matou's affinity for water, and Aunt Medea had decided against directly implanting the circuits from his father and uncle. That was the obvious choice of action, but a rather poor one, as they would be rendered unstable by the process, increasing the risk of rejection and degrading their quality.

_So she took a different course._

Instead she forged the thirty-five circuits – twenty-five from Uncle Byakuya, and ten from his father – into a crest, and implanted that into him. The advantages of this were that the chances of rejection was actually reduced, due to his Matou blood, and also making his spells more stable due to the circuits in the crest being more stable than natural ones.

The disadvantage was that it put more strain on his body than normal circuits. And he wasn't particularly fit to begin with, considering that he had little time to actually go and buff himself up. There was simply too much to do, specifically compiling and updating the Matou magic.

His grandfather had been a fool, pursuing immortality and leaving their family's craft in an extremely imperfect state. Effective it was, but it was also very inefficient. Matou magi in general had weak bodies and unstable minds as side-effects of the brutal training, which made use of methods long since discredited by the Association as both needlessly cruel and wasteful.

_He had a lot of work to do cleaning it up before he could turn it all over to his children with confidence._

But enough about that; Shinji stepped out of the magic circle and examined his work carefully: a pair of concentric circles to represent the world and the natural order, intersected by an inscribed triangle to represent the system behind his magecraft. Three smaller circles lay over the points of the triangle, inscribed with esoteric symbols denoting key concepts, linked with each other by a series of intersecting lines across the triangle to denote their mutually supportive relationship.

"Is it accurate?" Shinji asked, and Kurogane nodded.

"_It looks that way to me youngster._" The crow replied, and Shinji took an empty Book of Unquiet Spirits and placed it in the circle, opened to its first page.

Heading back to where his things were, he pulled out a metallic, handheld device fitted with a trigger and a cylindrical head which looked like it should have a needle attached to it. Shinji pulled out another case, and opening it removed a vial filled with dark-colored, metastable fluid – prana drawn from Fuyuki's ley-lines.

_Flashback Begins_

"_What are you working on nephew?" Medea asked as she walked up to where Shinji was eating a sandwich at the dining table, all the while looking over a technical schematic of some sort._

"_A mystic code…" he replied. "…of a certain sort…to replenish exhausted prana, magi normally take potions or elixirs, but those have a less than one hundred percent absorption rate. Another method is a tantric ritual, but while this one has a hundred percent absorption rate, it's rather distasteful for more aristocratic magi, and personally after going through the library's notes and records, I think I want an alternative to that as well."_

"_And pray tell…" Medea continued. "…how exactly will this mystic code present an alternative?"_

_Shinji responded by giving Medea the schematics, and she looked them over with a practiced eye, and after a moment nodded with approval. "Impressive…" she said. "…although…"_

_Shinji nodded. "I know…" he agreed. "…apart from__** where**__ it has to be injected for the prana to be distributed across the body as quickly and as efficiently as possible, introducing metastable prana directly into the bloodstream will hurt like hell."_

_Medea laughed and handed him his schematics back. "...but I suppose the nobles will accept it as…an acceptable tradeoff compared to what tantic rituals entail at times, to say nothing of those potions and elixirs that are usually blood or semen-based. We're Humans…and they're nobles…neither of us are vampires or succubus or incubi."_

"…_I see…" Medea said with a nod and patted Shinji on the shoulder. "…here's a piece of advice then. Rather than using a physical needle, perhaps you should opt for a metaphysical penetrator, similar to that which is used in spiritual surgery. It will increase the pain considerably, but it will reduce fatigue to cardiac muscles over repeated use."_

_Shinji nodded and smiled at his aunt. "I'll consider it…" he said. "…thank you."_

_Medea nodded, and then walked off back to her own business._

_Flashback Ends_

The vial slid into the ready position with the sound of metal softly striking glass, and Shinji bared the upper part of his chest and placed the injector over his heart. "Here we go…" he said, and with a deep breath he pulled the trigger.

Agony…pure, white-hot agony exploded across his body as a metaphysical needle sliced through flesh and into his heart, metastable prana flooding into his blood and thence across his body. Shinji fell to his knees and activated his circuits – or rather his crest – and cycled it to speed up the absorption and acclimatization process. The pain was more than physical due to the nature of the introduction as well as what was introduced, but it was a good pain.

_It was the pain a magus was supposed to experience whenever they challenged the natural order and shouldered the burden of all the contradictions of their mysteries._

Breathing hard, Shinji staggered to his feet while Kurogane looked on with concern. After few minutes Shinji had regained his breath, and walked into the circle. He extended an arm over the open book, while gold, electrum, and blood-red gems flashed in the moonlight as he drew a ritual dagger with one hand.

Shinji took a deep breath, and slit his wrist open, dark venal blood dripping down and splattering the book's pages. His bleeding arm held over the book, while the other was held out horizontally to the side, Shinji closed his eyes and began to chant.

"...darkness lies over the land. Cold and forgotten, the graves of the fallen warriors lie. None mourn them. None remember them. None save for one. This shall I swear, should you answer my call: once more your blades will be drawn in battle, and once more shall your spirit cleave the foe."

Kurogane looked around the grassy plains with beady red eyes as his master continued to cast his spell, the magic circle beneath and around him lit with sickly purple light. The ambient temperature was dropping, the humidity in the air coalescing into a fog through which ghastly, half-seen figures could be drifting around his master. "An offering of blood I shall give…" Shinji spoke the ninth verse of the aria, the sickly light of his magic circle glowing brighter as it projected itself, glowing and slowly revolving, up and above its creator. "…and bind yourselves unto my will!"

Silence fell across the foggy plains, and then the magic circle exploded with light as Shinji cried out in agony as blood exploded from his slit wrist and poured into the book. The fog was twisting and writhing as though in agony, the wraiths of slain men and horses from the armies that had fought here centuries ago during the Age of Warring States pulled along streams of entropic energies into a swirling column of malevolent echoes in the fabric of reality.

And then it was over. Shinji collapsed gasping to the ground, the swirling column vanishing into the book as its pages flipped themselves at impossible speeds, the magus' blood magically inscribing the names and descriptions of his newest servants onto the pages as they flipped before the book closed. Runes flashed briefly and faded, sealing the wraiths within and to its master and creator.

"_Are you alright there, youngster?_" Kurogane asked, perching on Shinji's shoulder as the boy got to his knees.

"I've been better." Shinji replied while placing a hand onto his wrist and with a flash of light sealed the self-inflicted wound. "But it's done. The ghosts of the forgotten battlefields of Central Honshu from the Age of Warring States, they belong to me now: one hundred thousand soldiers, sixty-five thousand spear and bow peasant infantry, thirty thousand samurai cavalry, and five thousand matchlock specialists."

Shinji spent a few more moments to catch his breath, before staggering to his feet and walking over to gather up his materials. "I don't think I'll go to Kyoto anymore." He said to Kurogane. "As they say it doesn't pay to be greedy, and I think I might be pushing myself too far with the plan."

Kurogane huffed before giving his reply. "_It's heartening for you to see reason youngster._" He said. "_Apart from pushing yourself too far, Kyoto has magi of its own, doesn't it? I imagine they won't be too happy for someone to just walk in and start nabbing their spirits from under their watch._"

Shinji actually laughed. "That's true." He agreed. "There's also the fact that I use western magic, so they'll probably be even unhappier. With that said, we'll continue on to that little mountain village up north, and then we'll be heading back to Fuyuki."

"_You sure 'bout this youngster…?_" Kurogane asked. "_Even those records you've consulted have shown up worrying bits 'n pieces 'bout those mountain peasants and that snake demon they worship._"

"It's probably just superstition." Shinji said dismissively. "At any rate, from my research the serpent cult is only a couple of centuries old. My spirit army dates back to the 16th Century at the latest. I have historical weight on my side."

"_Alright then youngster…_" Kurogane conceded before taking off. "_…as planned I'll go and scout things out, and maybe find out more about this cult of theirs while you rest up a bit._"

"Don't die."

"_I don't intend to. I'm going to outlive you, and use everything you've given me to become a karasu-tengu._"

Shinji just smiled indulgently. "It'll be centuries before you'll have the conceptual weight to become a youkai in your own right Kurogane…" he whispered as he headed back to the small farming town he'd be lodging in for the next couple of days. "…crazy old man…"

* * *

><p>Shiro Emiya was in the supermarket after class that day, and was rummaging around in the vegetables section when he ran into a person he'd been avoiding for much of his life. "Hey there Emiya-senpai…" Sakura Matou greeted him, and Shiro cursed inwardly. And then he blinked at the fact that she wasn't wearing her cloak today. "…fancy meeting you here of all places."<p>

"What happened to your cloak?" he asked before he could stop himself, and Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"I slipped the other day…" she said evasively, and considering what Tokiomi had told him about her and her mother it was probably best not to probe too much into her business. "…but enough about that; how are you getting along with my sister?"

"We're getting along…"

Sakura grinned at his response. "Is that so? That's great!" she said cheerfully and then her facial expression turned stern before adding something in all seriousness. "If you break her heart, I'll break you in half."

"…I'll keep that in mind." He said while his face went pale. She didn't need magic to do that, any sufficiently irritated woman was probably as terrifying if not worse than the Black Princess and her White Dog.

"Okay, as long as you remember." Sakura said, going all cheerful again.

_Is she supposed to be bipolar?_

"With that said…" she continued, walking closer and beginning to rummage through the vegetables as well. "…how is she?"

"What…?"

"How is she?" she asked again. "As you might well have noticed, we don't exactly get along. She has certain…resentments against me for past events."

"I know…" Shiro agreed as they moved along. "…but she doesn't exactly hate you. From what I can tell – based on what little she says about you every now and then – she just doesn't understand how…well, how you've become who you are now. I don't know how your childhood interactions were, but I think…I know it's causing Rin a lot of pain."

Sakura briefly closed her eyes. "Pain…?" she whispered. "She knows nothing of that…and I pray she never does. In order to become who and what I am now, I had to die once and kill all that was left of the smiling and innocent girl from long ago."

Shiro's eyes widened. "You…?"

Sakura smiled knowingly with narrowed eyes. "Just as you were born in fire, Shiro Emiya – if that's who you originally were – I was born in death and betrayal. We are not so different, you and I."

"Are we really?" Shiro said, also completely serious by now. He didn't like her. Something about her…it just rubbed him the wrong way, as though she were the very antithesis of everything he stood for. He just didn't know why…yet.

_I don't know what you are. I don't know why I seem to instinctively be repulsed by you. But I will find out. And if you are what I feel you are…I'll crush you. I won't let you hurt others!_

"_Oh…?_" Sakura mused as her blue eyes met Shiro's golden ones. "_…you can see through me? This should prove interesting. Prana is already backing up within the Greater Grail, to the extent that the Fifth Holy Grail War will begin early. I shall observe your progress with great interest._"

The two continued to shop in silence, until half an hour later and the two of them stood outside the supermarket in the golden light of the late afternoon. "I doubt that we'll ever see eye-to-eye…" Sakura said, breaking the silence. "…except on one point: take good care of my sister. I do care about her, even if I don't openly show it."

Shiro stonily gazed back before giving a warmer smile. "I suppose I can't argue that point, no matter what else you may be." He conceded. "As for Rin…she cares for you too, and while I don't know what happened between the two of you in the past you shouldn't blame her for it, considering that you were both probably too young to do anything about it."

"I have never blamed her." Sakura replied with a hint of reproof. "But it's her business if she thinks that way."

"Perhaps…" Shiro said. "…or that's what's keeping you two apart. Have you ever considered that the way you've become today, is what destroyed your relationship with your sister?"

Sakura was silent, the breeze rippling her hair as it passed through. "We are who we choose to be." she said, and then she turned and walked away.

"It's a shame then…" Shiro whispered after her. "…what you've chosen to become."

Apparently Sakura heard, because she turned to smile at him. "There are those who choose to let themselves be guided by the current of the world…" she said back to him over the short distance. "…and there are those who choose to make their own way."

With that said, she continued to walk away, her free hand raised in farewell. Shiro looked after her with a mixed expression of curiosity and distaste. She was intriguing, because despite what he felt was internal distortion on her part she was also a genuinely likeable person, even if that last statement of hers was worrying.

_Just because you can choose to make your own way, it doesn't mean that you should. You're not the only person in the world. If everyone only thought about themselves, where would that leave us? The way you apparently think…that's just wrong._

Shiro sighed and went home to drop off his groceries. However fate wasn't done toying with him yet, because immediately upon arrival he found himself confronted by an irate-looking Rin Tohsaka. "Rin…?" he said in surprise as he closed the front door behind him and began to remove his shoes. "What are you doing here?"

"You've gotten really full of yourself lately, haven't you?" she said belligerently, ignoring his question.

"Huh?"

"I saw you enjoying yourself with my sister in the nearby supermarket while I was on the way here." She continued, with that same sense of menace from earlier.

"What…? It's not what you think…!"

"I can't believe you!" she said angrily while grabbing him by the ear and dragging him inside despite his cries of pain. "I thought we had something, and then you just had to go and cheat on me! And with my sister no less…! I'm going to work you like a dog tonight!"

"Wait…stop…it's not like that! Mom…!"

"Go lie in your own bed."

"Mom…!"

* * *

><p>Shinji was reviewing his notes in his motel room when an injured Kurogane drunkenly flew through his window. "Kurogane…?" he said as he rushed over and began to use healing magecraft on the crow's damaged body. "What the hell happened?"<p>

"_We got problems, youngster._" The crow replied. "_On the plus side, that snake isn't a god, but it isn't just a dime-for-a-dozen demon either._"

"Well it probably isn't a True Demon either otherwise you'd never have managed to get back in one piece." Shinji noted.

"_Agreed…_" Kurogane said. "_...it's a snake animal spirit, very powerful, I'd say with around five centuries or so of historical weight. Wearing it down isn't going to be easy either; see, the cult is somewhat promiscuous in nature, so they've got a large reserve of energy at hand to feed that thing._"

"Well that's just great…" Shinji said exasperatedly before a crafty expression dawned on his face. "…wait…no, I think this might actually work for us. If they're using tantric rituals as a means to gather and store energy for their 'god', then the alignment of that energy should be creative. However…"

"_You're a necromancer._" Kurogane concurred. "_The alignment of your energy and those of the spirits bound to you is entropic. If you use the older ones, you might just enough of an edge._"

Shinji smirked. "There's also another means by which to increase the entropy value of the ambient prana field in the area." He said coldly. "Aunt Medea…Sakura…they're not the only ones who can commit atrocities when it suits their purposes."

"_Don't underestimate that snake, youngster._" Kurogane warned him. "_It's old and powerful, and considering what you're after under that defiled temple housing it and the leaders of its cult, it has experience dealing with your kind._"

"Don't worry, I won't underestimate it." Shinji assured him. "If nothing else, I'll crush it with overwhelming force. And besides, I'm sure that the one we're after would be more than pleased to take its revenge on its old enemy."

Kurogane snorted. "_That's assuming it can still feel anything anymore._" He pointed out. "_Souls rot, remember?_"

Shinji laughed at the reminder. "True…" he said. "…but it'll have a high entropy rating if that's the case. That snake will be the first test of my little theory."

"_And if it fails?_"

"If that's the case, then we high-tail it out of there while using the spirit army to buy time. But I doubt if it'll ever come to that."

* * *

><p>AN

I'm not making the part about blood or semen up; at one point in the VN Rin mentions poorer magi selling their blood or semen to the Association as a source of prana, to say nothing about how canon Shinji takes care of canon Sakura's 'problems'.

Of course considering the aristocratic attitudes of high-ranking magi, I doubt they'd ever make use of such methods to replace prana unless absolutely necessary. If they would even consider it that is...seriously, would you see Lorelei Barthomeloi performing a tantric ritual (READ: casual sex/rape), or drinking a potion distilled from blood or semen? She'll probably rip the guts out of anyone who even suggests that she does so.

Apart from that, nothing else to say, apart from Shiro seeing Sakura much like how he sees Kirei in canon (no surprise since this Sakura is Lawful Evil rather than her canon self's Chaotic Good), and Rin getting jealous. Ouch…


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution

Chapter 10

Shinji Matou bit down on a finger, and allowed his blood to drip onto the open books before him. "Accept the offering of blood…" he said as the dried blood which made up the writing within the Books of Unquiet Spirits flared angrily. "…and answer my call."

The ambient temperature instantly dropped several degrees, which the magus easily ignored due to the burning sensation of active circuits cycling prana within him. Grass and leaves shriveled as the very life was sucked out of them, and an eerie fog rose from the ground and around the trees at the edge of the village. Shinji smiled and looked up at the full Moon peeking out from behind a cloud.

"A wonderful omen, if I may say so." He said to himself, and then raising an arm above his head, brought it down in a chopping motion forwards. At that signal, he marched down the central road of the village followed by a double file of ghastly wraiths of 15th Century samurai cavalry. The village watchman tried to bar his entry…only to fall dead mere moments after noticing the macabre procession behind the magus.

Shinji sneered and kicked the corpse out of his way, the dead man's face frozen in shock from having his heart stopped in an instant by the slightest touch of an eldritch lance. Shinji marched through the mountain village towards the temple stairs, his wraith soldiers following in spectral silence. Armored feet, iron-shod hooves, and spears struck the ground in uniform fashion without a sound, the wraiths draining the heat from the air and wrapping their surroundings with damnable fog.

Shinji paused as he reached the base of the temple stairs, and signaled with his arm. Barely a tenth of his army was with him – it hardly seemed necessary to bring all one hundred thousand wraiths along – but it was still enough. Kurogane ghosted through the fog and landed on his master's shoulder, and watched with beady red eyes as peasant spearmen formed a line before a second line of peasant archers. "_Do you think we're expected youngster?_" the crow asked.

"Almost certainly…" Shinji replied. "…there's a bounded field around the entire village. It's an unusual design – no doubt due to the Far Eastern origin of the magecraft – but it checks out. The villagers may not know, but the cultists do. Speaking of which Kurogane…?"

"_What...?_"

"…I need you to watch the village. I wouldn't want an angry mob attacking from the rear out of nowhere."

"_No, you don't._"

The crow flew off, and Shinji exchanged a nod with the leading samurai. Of course as a mere spirit it couldn't really think much less feel, but it retained faded impressions of past events and memories. Such familiar gestures would make increase the awareness of the wraiths by a small amount. It wouldn't be very useful, but it wasn't exactly useless either.

Shinji cautiously ascended the steps and passed through the open temple gates…and stepped back as a shinai nearly slammed down on his head. The magus blinked as the midget of a gatekeeper leapt at him, brandishing his weapon…and was frozen in place as ice encased his feet at Shinji's command. The midget blinked, and then his eyes went wide as Shinji stabbed him in the heart with a stiletto.

As the gatekeeper fell dead to the ground, Shinji turned with mild amusement as he heard a pair of oni-masked acolytes in white yukatas charge screaming at him with shinai held high. He rolled his eyes, and his arms blurred…and both acolytes staggered back and fell dead with throwing daggers buried in their throats.

"I don't need to poison my blades like Sakura…" he said as he casually walked past their twitching corpses, playing with another throwing dagger in one hand. "…unlike her, my superior skills as a knife thrower are enough."

"Really now…" a fat and bald man dressed as the high priest said as he exited the main temple building. Shinji came to a halt and raised an eyebrow. "…what's gotten into the youth of today? They stay up so late, break into holy grounds, and kill sanctified people…"

"There is nothing holy about this place." Shinji interrupted him coldly. "Just for starters you and your ilk worship no god, merely a vicious snake spirit whose followers raped and murdered the priestess of this place before defiling it."

The magus sniffed and ran a hand through the air, his fingers twitching as he ran diagnostics and analyzed minute substances wafting through the moisture in the air. "And from the look of things, the 'creative' aspects of this cult of yours are dependent on psychological dependency and quite possibly chemical inducement."

"...that's very clever of you boy." The high priest noted neutrally.

"It's my business to know." Shinji replied, and the high priest laughed before gazing coldly at him, all trace of joviality and indulgence gone.

"And pray tell, what are you going to do about it boy?" he asked imperiously. "You know some tricks I see – foreign trash but quite impressive for all that – but do you really think you can get out of here alive much less safe? I don't know what you care here for…!"

Shinji didn't even blink. He didn't even let the high priest finish what he saying. Instead he relaxed, and coolly regarded the acolytes gathering from the surrounding temple buildings. "Fat…" he said laconically, eyeing the corpse of the high priest with a dagger buried all the way to the hilt in one eye. "…fat and bald…an isolated temple…a cult with promiscuous elements…lots of acolytes who stink of hormones…this has got to be a joke. A very bad joke or parody of some second-rate porno flick…"

"He killed the high priest!"

"He knows our secrets!"

"Kill him!"

"Don't let him escape!"

"…people like me always get the short end of the stick in such scenarios." Shinji muttered while looking up at the Moon, the acolytes charging in and shouting around him. He sighed and tensed. "But this isn't something like that. This is reality."

Steel flashed between his fingers, and Shinji threw six daggers with unerring precision, and killed six acolytes. He grabbed and pulled a shinai as an acolyte swung it at him, and slit the man's belly before turning and stabbing the same knife into another man's neck. The man went down gurgling, while the other screamed and desperately tried to cram his intestines back into his body.

Sidestepping another swing, Shinji slit the man's neck arteries open, and reinforcing his legs jumped onto a man's back and used it as a springboard to jump closer to the gate. He snapped his fingers as the survivors regrouped and charged.

They came to a halt as wraiths ran through the gate, their armored shoes making no sound as they lined up between their master and his enemies and levelled their matchlocks. The two sides stared at each other before the acolytes renewed their resolve. "They're just a bunch of ghosts! They can't hurt us!"

"Get the witch! Burn him!"

Shinji rolled his eyes as the wraiths pulled their triggers, sparks erupting soundlessly…and the charge broke as many of the acolytes fell dead, their faces set in shock. "What the hell?" one of the survivors yelled with his face pale with horror.

"H-how…?"

"He's dead!"

"They're just ghosts! They can't have…!"

"Idiots…" Shinji snarled while massaging his neck muscles. "…just because wraiths are insubstantial it doesn't mean that they're harmless. Even if they can't cause physical harm, they'll just cause harm on the conceptual level, in this case by 'imposing' a subconscious belief in one's own death."

"W-what…?"

Shinji smiled and raised a finger to his lips. "It's called magic." He said smugly. "And a good magician never reveals his secrets. Now fire…!"

Again matchlocks fired in spectral silence, and more acolytes fell. The rest broke and fled, and Shinji gestured for the musketeers to follow…and then his eyes went wide as the ground began to shake and he felt power flowing through the air. "What the hell?"

In response the main temple exploded from the inside, and Shinji could only gape as a giant, green serpent emerged hissing with anger. "Oh hell no…" he muttered, and then he was forced to jump to the side as the enraged serpent spirit lunged at him. Musketeers opened fire, wounds opening in the spirit's side.

Incensed, the snake lunged towards the musketeers and began to destroy or devour their spirits in quick order. With only a little time available, Shinji reached out through the link with his familiars. "…damn it!" he swore as he dodged yet another lunge by the snake – having already consumed all his musketeers – even as samurai cavalry charged through the temple gates.

One samurai leaped over the snake's snout, his pole-arm carving a gash across it. The snake reared and hissed with agony, and turned all its attention on the samurai encircling it. Shinji took advantage of this and ran for what was left of the temple complex. As he climbed up the shattered stairs, he risked a glance back.

The samurai were riding in a circle around the serpent, some raining down arrows upon it while others charged in alternately to attack with swords and pole-arms. Nodding with satisfaction, Shinji made his way deeper into the defiled temple.

* * *

><p>Kurogane sighed as he perched on a tree and looked on with exasperation as villagers armed with a mix of torches and farming implements took to the streets and marched on the temple. No doubt if his master was here he'd make a funny comment at all the Human-like mannerisms he was gaining.<p>

_It's only natural considering that I am a familiar. And eventually I will become more than that._

Going back to the task at hand, Kurogane directed his gaze at the wraiths under his command. "_Archers form up…_" he gave the telepathic command, and the peasant bowmen notched arrows to their bows and pulled back, the arrows aimed into the air. "_...fire!_"

The spectral arrows flew into the air and fell back down in elegant parabolas. Naturally they simply passed through the bodies of the villagers without causing physical harm, but those that did get hit fell dead from shock. Kurogane sighed as the mob broke and fell back in horror.

"_Don't let them escape!_" He ordered, and the peasant spearmen levelled their spears and charged. Kurogane ignored the screams and turned his attention up at the temple. "_Everything's taken care of down here youngster._"

* * *

><p>The priest charged Shinji with a katana in his hands. And if he was actually skilled at using it, he would probably have killed the unsurprised but unskilled – at close combat – magus. As it was Shinji deftly avoided the would-be death blow and grabbed the priest's face with his hand. Prana surged through magic circuits and the priest's blood froze in his head, his eyes exploding with bloody crystals.<p>

"Ugh…" Shinji cursed, stepping back as the corpse fell at his feet. "…that wasn't such a good idea."

He wiped his hands clean with a pocket handkerchief, and continued on his way. As he turned a corner, two more priests emerged from nearby rooms and charged at him. "Stop!" he commanded, and the two priests fell under his spell. He nodded with satisfaction. "Kill yourselves if you please."

"Gladly my master!" they shouted as one, and proceeded to commit seppuku.

"I should have gone down that route from the beginning." He muttered as he walked past the disemboweled priests. As he continued through the temple, Shinji found several rooms wherein waited women and adolescent girls, scantily-dressed and reeking of some kind of aphrodisiac. A surge of prana through his circuits was enough to dampen any of the effects on him, and a wave of throwing daggers put the cult's sex slaves out of their misery. "In hindsight, this seems dreadfully cliché for some reason." Shinji muttered, pausing in front of another pair of doors.

Unlike the others from before however, these ones were prevented from being opened from the inside by a bounded field, and had reinforcement-like spells placed on them. Drawing another dagger, Shinji worked away on the bounded field until it finally gave way. Satisfied, he opened the door and entered the sanctuary.

_And from the look of things the snake saved me a lot of work._

The ground and floor had all been torn up along with the ceiling and most of the adjacent area, the snake spirit having escaped through the hole in the roof. The agonized and enraged hissing of the spirit could be heard in the distance, and Shinji smiled at the continued success of his servants.

He looked down at the ground, and saw to his relief that the circular casket which held the corpse of the dead priestess was still intact. Powerful seals lay on the casket, and Shinji could feel the malevolent and rotting will that lay within.

Pulling out a case from a pocket, Shinji opened it and removed a gauntleted half-glove set with runes and etherium – alchemically-condensed ether – circuitry. He pulled it on the gauntlet and the circuits on the gauntlet flickered as they interfaced with his crest. He reached into a pocket again and removed a hardened container from which he removed a specially-prepared gem.

He inserted the gem into its niche on the gauntlet, and broke all but the final seal on the casket. The decayed and malevolent soul within began to throb with anticipation, and ghostly whispers began to be heard in the air as the long-dead priestess sought to barter its freedom.

"Darkness drowns the grave." He began to cast the binding spell, the runes and circuits on the glove beginning to glow. "The rest is unquiet. There is no peace in death. Purpose I will give you, in exchange for your servitude."

A magic circle appeared around Shinji's feet, while the casket began to glow and the whispers grew louder. "Anger is all you know. Resentment and hate consume your essence."

The final seal began to crack, and the whispers were reduced to mad ravings but Shinji continued to cast his spell, his gauntleted hand held over the casket. "A mockery of life is all you have. But if hate is what you hold against the living, then that I can assuage."

As the spell completed, the final seal broke and a bloodcurdling scream filled the air. Shinji staggered and grit his teeth in pain as purple lightning crackled between his gauntleted hand and the ruptured casket, black tendrils and the ghastly image of a rotting, feminine face and form flowed up and into the gem which began to glow with nightmarish light.

The ritual complete, Shinji took a moment to catch his breath before again reinforcing his legs and jumping up through the ruined ceiling and onto the roof. He looked out over the battlefield and saw that while the snake spirit was seriously injured, his own cavalry was cut to a third. That clearly wasn't good, even more so considering he didn't have the other books with him.

He raised his hand and stared at his gauntlet for a moment. He smiled.

_Let's test it out, shall we?_

He fed prana into the gauntlet, and ignoring the mental trauma of the decayed soul fighting his control, released it onto the battlefield leashed to his will. "Come forth…" he hissed. "…and strike my foe with your ancestral power!"

The gem flashed and black tendrils trailed out and coalesced into a ghastly corpse dressed in the rotting robes of a Shinto priestess. The priestess screamed in vain defiance at Shinji before summoning a bow in her hands. She aimed it at her ancient nemesis and fired several arrows in quick succession.

The snake spirit staggered and fell as the arrows punched into its partly-immaterial form, but before the remaining samurai could close the priestess was already closing with a scythe in her hands and used it to decapitate the snake in one fell swoop. Shinji breathed deeply with relief…and then his eyes went wide as the gem began to crack.

"What the…!" he said, and then to his horror saw that while most of the dead snake spirit's form was fading away into prana, the dead priestess had managed to tear out its heart and was about to consume it. "NO!"

It was too late. The samurai closed, only to be torn apart and absorbed in a whirlpool of entropic energies. The gem shattered, and Shinji tore off the gauntlet before the magical backlash could cause too much damage. A whirlwind erupted around his ex-servant, and sent him tumbling back.

Coughing as he got up to a sitting position, Shinji looked up and gasped as the spirit began to approach him. "_This…could be a problem._"

* * *

><p>"Sakura…" Rin Tohsaka said as she stormed into the Baking Club again. "…I've got a bone to pick with you."<p>

"Sit down." Sakura Matou replied absent-mindedly as she cut a freshly-baked pie.

"Sakura…"

"Sit down…" she repeated as she took a slice and placed it on a saucer before deftly using a silver spoon to carve out a generous spoonful.

Still incensed about Shiro and her sister's apparent infidelity, Rin opened her mouth to forcibly take control of the conversation…and was promptly choked and seared when Sakura pre-emptively placed the steaming spoonful into her mouth.

"...it's hot…it's hot…it's hot…!" she spluttered much to the amusement of the rest of the club, one of whose members handed Sakura a glass of water.

"Thanks Hanako…" she said while handing the same glass to her sister.

"What was that for?" Rin spluttered after taking a drink.

"...keep calm and have some pie." Sakura said, offering the spoon to Rin. After a moment Rin took it grumpily lest Sakura start forcibly shoveling it into her mouth.

"Is this supposed to help me?" she muttered after another spoonful. It was surprisingly good, although if she overindulged she'd get fat.

"I don't think you're getting the idea here." Sakura said while resting on an elbow. "Sweets won't calm you down unless you let it."

"I'll get fat."

"You're as skinny as hell…" Sakura deadpanned before giving a cough. "…anyway, it seems you're still angry over your boyfriend seemingly cheating on you."

"Aha! So you admit it?" Rin said triumphantly, and Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Don't put words in my mouth sis. That's called sophistry, and it's very bad form." She said. "And use your head. You're supposed to be Suzumiya-senpai's anointed successor as student council chairman, aren't you? Why would I want to date the school doormat?"

"He's not a doormat!" Rin said vehemently. "Sure he's a bit of an idiot, but he's also very reliable and determined…"

Rin trailed off at the sight of the amused expression on Sakura and the other club members' faces. "Wow…" Sakura said. "…you've got it bad sis."

"…I…I…shut up! You tricked me!"

Sakura rolled her eyes again. "Right…" she said. "…okay so I tricked you there, but personally I have little to no interest in Emiya-senpai in that area. What point would there be for me in stealing him from you?"

"You hate my family."

"I hate your mother and resent our father." Sakura corrected firmly, and Rin blinked in surprise. This was the first time her sister had ever been so upfront about it, so much so that she just **knew **that she wasn't lying. "But I certainly don't hate you. Nor am I that petty of a person."

"No…" Rin said half-heartedly before continuing to eat. "…I suppose not."

Sakura busied herself briefly with club matters while Rin finished up. "Um…" she began as approached the door. "…sorry for breaking in like this…"

Sakura grinned and a playful light entered her eyes. "It's no problem." She said in a sing-song fashion. "Although if you intend to make up with Emiya-senpai, here's a piece of advice: don't forget to use protection."

Rin turned beet-red and slammed the door behind her, but not enough to block out the raucous laughter from the Baking Club and the scandalized comments from the resident teacher.

* * *

><p>AN

Another chapter done…Shinji should be coming home in the next chapter. Two or more chapters up, and we're going into Tsukihime territory.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, names, and any copyrighted material used in this work. This is a fanfic, period. Everything belongs to their respective owners. Comments and constructive criticism are all very much appreciated.

Legacy of the Ancients: Evolution

Chapter 11

Kariya Matou detested his family…for the most part. Byakuya was a drunk who after getting freed of Zouken's tyranny had gone legit as a policeman…and based on his contacts within the shady side of things (he was journalist what did you expect) it seemed that Byakuya was considered something of a 'cowboy cop' who while going by the book in most situations, had a tendency to charge in with guns blazing or batons swinging if things turned sour.

_In other words, if things didn't go the way he wanted, he'd __**make **__them go the way wanted._

And there was his 'sister' Medea. Never mind the fact that she was a reincarnated Heroic Spirit, she was still the treacherous witch of Greek mythology (not that he would say that to her face as he rather liked having his genitals in one piece). But apart from those facts which made her very untrustworthy to begin with, Kariya detested her for utterly destroying Sakura's innocence.

Oh sure, thanks to her Sakura was never violated by Zouken's crest worms, and Shinji would not be manipulated into a twisted and bitter boy who would eventually have the role of 'controlling' the side effects of Sakura's training. But she'd done no worse than he would have. She'd given Sakura power to protect herself and to choose her own future, but had neglected to teach her mercy or anything at all to guide the young girl with regards to her power.

_It was obvious with the way she walked. She didn't have an arrogant or cruel expression on her face, and her eyes are merely confident. But the walk…it's the walk of someone with the mentality of 'might makes right'._

That much had been obvious with how she'd killed Aoi, and while Kariya could say with some reservation that Aoi had deserved some comeuppance for just going along with selling her daughter, she didn't deserve the fate Sakura had cruelly given her.

_No parent should be murdered by their own child, much less tortured to death._

All in all Kariya hated Sakura above all the Matou of the current generation, seeing in her a monster which would eventually surpass Zouken. Oh he was certain that she would never torture people like he did…she would just do it in more…traditional ways. Cruel, powerful, intelligent and ambitious…in every way she was the perfect little girl of Tokiomi Tohsaka and Medea of Colchis.

_Gods he hated visiting. But he had to. Hope springs eternal, and despite everything he hoped that some small spark of the innocent and smiling little girl that he once knew remained and would resurface._

The train's PA system crackled to life, and Kariya stretched before standing. A few moments later and the train slowed to a halt, and Kariya stepped out onto the train station. He barely managed to take a few steps before the beating of wings caught his and a few others' attention. He turned to follow the crow's flight, and blinked in surprise at the sight of a weary, ponytailed boy walking away from the train with the crow on his shoulder.

* * *

><p>"My head hurts…" Shinji Matou complained as he wearily massaged his temples. "…no more shenanigans at night…"<p>

Kurogane cackled at his master's expense. "_Well youngster, from the look of things you've learned the hard way that indulging Shiori has a price tag attached to it._"

"…shut up."

"_We're being followed by the way._"

"_Should I deal with them, Shinji-kun?_" Shiori's voice ghosted in their minds, and Shinji sniffed the air experimentally before shrugging.

"It's just Uncle Kariya…" he said. "…leave him be, we'll talk when we get home."

The trip home was rather uneventful, although the taxi driver seemed a little suspicious about the crow perched on his customer's shoulder, and the second taxi discreetly following his vehicle. Ultimately though he decided to keep his mouth shut, a decision vindicated when they arrived at the rather expensive-looking house and estate. Rich people had their eccentricities which were better left unasked by other people.

Shinji paid the man and pulled his bag along behind him into the Matou Estate, idly noting that his uncle's taxi was nowhere to be seen.

_Most likely the man would try to sneak in from the back._

"_Shinji-kun…_" Shiori told him. "_…I sense a really powerful spirit inside the house, and a…Human…? The latter is quite powerful, about as powerful as the spirit but much younger from the feel of her aura._"

"The spirit you sense is probably my aunt…" Shinji said unconcernedly. "…she's a reincarnated Heroic Spirit, so yeah…and the other is my cousin, her daughter Sakura. She's powerful, as might be expected from the daughter of a Heroic Spirit."

"_I see._" Shiori conceded while Kurogane flew off to wherever crows hang out in their free time.

"I'm home!" Shinji shouted as he entered the entrance hall and closed the front doors behind him. There was no response. Frowning at the silence, he left his baggage behind him and made his way to the living room. Technically it was a Sunday, so there was a possibility that they were out…

That possibility went out the window as he entered the living room, and was greeted by the sight of his casually-dressed cousin lying asleep on the couch and with her face covered by an open copy of Shounen Jump. A red cat was sleeping on top of her.

As he approached them, Sakura stirred and reaching up with a hand exposed her eyes to gaze silently at her cousin. Miu – her pet cat-turned familiar – also stirred and directed her golden eyes at the older boy. After a moment Shiori materialized herself, and magus and familiar alike stared at the snake-like guardian spirit hanging around Shinji.

Sakura blinked. The guardian spirit was a…snake? At least she was from the waist down, while from the waist up she had a Human body with two arms and the right number and sets of fingers. Generously endowed…golden-eyed (probably Mystic Eyes of some sort)…and were those fangs?

_It or rather she's a spirit so she probably doesn't need them to suck blood, but considering the lower body they're probably poisonous._

A cobra-like hood was partly-concealed by the spirit's black hair, through which jutted out elfin ears similar to her mother's. Sakura fought down an urge of jealousy. She didn't inherit her mother's ears.

_I want ears like those._

"Hey Sakura…" Shinji greeted his cousin cautiously while Shiori possessively wrapped her arms around him (much to his discomfort). "…this is unusual…both catching you sleeping here and reading Shounen Jump."

Sakura redirected her gaze at her familiar before covering her eyes again. "_We're probably dreaming._" She told Miu. "_I don't suppose it's too out there for my cousin to get a guardian spirit bound to him – he's a necromancer it's bound to be inevitable – but he's not lucky enough to get one that hot or clingy._"

"_It's a snake woman._" Miu commented. "_Is that even possible?_"

"_Yes…_" Sakura answered hesitantly as sleep began to catch up with her again. "_…technically the Gorgons were snake women…sort-of…and there are Lamias…_"

"Hey what's going on here?" Medea commented as she walked in, just as casually dressed as her daughter. She looked at Shiori and blinked, before looking at Shinji who nervously scratched a cheek. "Okay…how did this happen?"

Sakura uncovered her face. "This isn't a dream?" she asked, and Shinji rolled his eyes.

"No, it isn't." he said exasperatedly. "This is Shiori. She's my guardian spirit. She…um…accidentally came to be when a dying snake animal spirit fused with a long-dead and partly-decomposed Human soul. The end result is her."

"That sounds…interesting…"

"She's not a test subject." Shinji said testily, and Sakura smiled calmly and ran a hand through her hair.

"Of course not." She said. "Does she have the memories of either?"

"No…" Shiori replied while clutching Shinji tighter. "…and I don't want them either. From what Shinji-kun told me, the ones before me didn't seem like terribly nice people. I don't want to know them, or what they were, or what they did."

"Shinji-kun…?" Sakura echoed blankly before smiling like a tease. "My, my, Shinji…you've gotten yourself a girlfriend I see."

"What…?"

"He's mine little girl." Shiori said while baring her fangs territorially. Shinji just sighed while both Sakura and Medea stifled their giggles. "Go get your own mate."

"Mate…?" Shinji echoed in shock, and this time Medea couldn't stifle her laughter, and the witch left to avoid being seen losing her composure.

Sakura just rolled her eyes. "He's my cousin." She said while stroking Miu's fur. "You want him…? You can have him."

* * *

><p>Kariya quietly climbed over the back wall of the Matou Estate, gingerly avoiding the spike-shaped tips of the iron fence, and snuck across the grounds to the rear entrance. No doubt the inhabitants or most of them had already deduced his presence through the bounded fields covering the territory, but even then he'd no illusions that he was welcome here.<p>

_Of course you're welcome. You just have to accept that things have changed, and you have to move on, even if the changes aren't to your liking or desire._

Kariya angrily crushed the taunting words from the more rational parts of his mind, and finding the backdoor locked, fished a hairpin from a pocket and proceeded to pick the lock. As the lock came loose, he nodded with satisfaction, and after placing the hairpin back inside his pocket, he opened the door and stepped inside…

…and found himself staring down his brother's sidearm.

"Kariya…?" Byakuya said in recognition before lowering his gun. "…gods, haven't you ever heard of going through the front door?"

Kariya snorted. "Only people who are welcome can use the front door." He retorted, and Byakuya snorted in his turn.

_Well, they were related by blood._

"You are welcome to return whenever you want brother." Byakuya said, all the while walking back to the kitchen table and gathering his case files and other papers. "All you have to do is get off that high horse of yours."

"Easy for you to say…" Kariya snarled while taking a seat nearby and watching his brother sort through his things. "…you've never really had high standards from what I can remember."

Byakuya paused, but relented from saying anything too vicious and merely settled for a glare. "I suppose I can't argue with you there…" he finally said. "…I did spend a lot of life drinking my grievances away, and I could have raised Shinji better. But you shouldn't talk as if we're very different: you literally ran away from your responsibilities, which isn't all too different from me drowning my sorrows in alcohol."

"I had my reasons." Kariya said curtly, and Byakuya nodded much to his surprise.

"True…" he said. "…you did it to avoid getting Aoi dragged into our then-messed-up family, and your children would probably have gone through hell, but in a way you are still partly responsible for all the bad things that have happened since then."

"Get to the point!"

"My point is that you shouldn't judge." Byakuya said sternly. "The world is a cruel place. Zouken was a monster, and only a monster could have destroyed him and saved your precious Aoi's child from his hands. And considering her age at the time it isn't too surprising that her abandonment issues caused her to latch onto the first maternal figure to appear before her."

"The witch is no maternal figure."

"Use your head Kariya." Byakuya snarled. "Put yourself in her shoes. A five-year old girl gets thrown away by her family – and is literally told that in her face by her good-for-nothing father – and nearly gets thrown into a pit filled with worms. And then out of nowhere a woman old enough to be her mother shows up and saves her life. Of course she's going to get attached. That same woman offering to blood adopt her is just icing on the cake."

"But…!"

"Your precious Aoi deserved her fate." Byakuya interrupted coldly, and Kariya leapt up from his chair. "Even I would not want such a fate as Zouken prepared for Sakura to befall my loved ones."

"Funny the way your wife ended up…"

"There was nothing funny about it, and I begged to put her out of her misery. You told Aoi why you left the family back then, didn't you? She knew what waited for Sakura in what was once the basement, now a concrete tomb. Even so, she did nothing to stop her husband. A pathetic and worthless woman, who deserved to die a torturous death at the hands of what was once her daughter…"

"…**HOW DARE YOU?**" Kariya thundered, grabbing his brother by the collar and raising his other fist to strike…and was hurled back against the wall by an unseen force.

"Uncle Kariya…" Sakura said, standing near the kitchen entrance with a sad expression on her face. "…why?"

Kariya got to his feet and fixed his clothes. He turned to regard Sakura and looked into her blue eyes. "Don't you regret anything?" he asked.

Sakura sighed at the repetitive question. Each time he visited their conversations always ended like this. "No…" she said, her eyes clear and untroubled. "…I regret nothing. If the opportunity arose before me a thousand times, then I would simply come up with a thousand varying ways to come to the same conclusion."

"I see."

"Uncle…" Sakura began, and Kariya paused on his way out. "…why can't you…why can't you let go of the past? Or accept everything that's happened so far?"

Kariya didn't look back as he replied. "There are things called right and wrong Sakura." He said before leaving. There was silence in the kitchen after that, and Sakura turned to her other uncle.

"Did you need something?" Byakuya asked.

"Not really, no…" she said. "…we heard rising voices, so I went to check it out. But now…tell me uncle: is justice really blind?"

Byakuya sat back and pulled out a cigarette. "Do you want my required opinion or my personal opinion?" he asked as he lit it and took a pull.

"Both…"

"I'm required to say that justice is blind, and the scales are balanced for good and all." He said while blowing out a thin blue stream of smoke. "But personally justice isn't blind, nor are the scales balanced. The ones who arbitrate it are only Humans after all, and Humans can never be completely objective."

Sakura snorted and actually laughed. "…I remember last December how you almost lost your badge after you and your squad actually had the nerve to use a battering ram to break into a warehouse suspected of being used to store smuggled goods." She pointed out, and Byakuya gave a laugh.

"We did have a search warrant, although I admit that the ram was too much…" Byakuya said before pausing and shrugging. "…anyway to get back to the point, apart from nonobjective Humans arbitrating justice, there are many factors which cause the scales to tilt out of balance. Power, wealth, social norms and so on…by all rights your father should pay for parental neglect and you should pay for predetermined murder…but you don't. You're a magus, and mundane laws don't apply to you."

"If it even applies at all..." Sakura said darkly. "There are times when I wonder is such things as 'good' and 'evil', 'right' and 'wrong' are mere Human trivialities which are meaningless as far as the rest of creation are concerned."

"An interesting point…" Byakuya began. "…although if that were the case then what would our society be built on, or for that matter does it make the suffering of others immaterial so long as one gets what one desires? That's a dangerous line of thinking, considering that's what led Zouken down his path in the first place."

"I would have suffered…" Sakura whispered. "…if I wasn't able to be to summon my mother then and there. I suppose you could say it's a matter of luck…but then again luck may be considered a form of strength in itself."

"I never expected you to be a Darwinian, and more of a Nietzschean actually."

"The two are quite similar in my opinion…" Sakura said absent-mindedly as she turned to leave. "…but to be honest, I find myself agreeing with the idea that might makes right, and that in the end it's the strong who decide who suffers and how and why, probably because I myself am so strong."

"That strength of yours is inherited though."

"Does it matter how power is attained?"

"No…" Byakuya said. "…philosophy, ethics, and morality aside the means are meaningless so long as the desired ends are attained. Theoretically it cannot be proven, but historically and realistically time and time again it has been proven that ends do in fact justify the means."

Sakura stood still and silent, and after a nod turned to leave.

* * *

><p>Tokiomi Tohsaka set down his teacup and stared at the younger magus and his…bonded spirit. "That's an interesting story Shinji-kun…" he said. "…and I appreciate the effort you've made to inform me of this recent complication to the supernatural side of Fuyuki City."<p>

"Aunt Medea said that it would be best to be polite at the least to the Supervisor to avoid complications of ill will later on." Shinji said, and Tokiomi nodded.

"That is appreciated." He said. "At any rate, I see no problems with you having a guardian spirit hanging around you, although as a fellow practitioner I expect you show the proper discretion considering that she is bound to you. In the event that discretion is not possible, I will expect you will do what is necessary to ensure secrecy."

Shinji nodded. "I understand." He said.

Tokiomi sat back, and after a moment took a sip from his own teacup. "By the way, how is your cousin?" he asked.

"Sakura…?" Shinji echoed in surprise. "She's doing well. Earlier though, she had an altercation of sorts with Uncle Kariya."

"No doubt over her past actions once more…" Tokiomi said, his voice trailing off.

Shinji stared at the man for a few moments. "At the risk of sounding pushy…" he began. "…I'm surprised that you don't resent Sakura for her actions in the past."

"...how can I, when I perfectly understand her?" Tokiomi said much to Shinji's surprise. "I neither condemn nor support her actions, but in light of her experiences and near-experiences I perfectly understand why she did what she did."

The man paused and sighed. "All I can do now…" he said. "…is pray and hope that history does not repeat itself. Sakura probably won't repeat my mistakes, but there are others who might…"

The man's voice trailed off again, and while Tokiomi didn't give names Shinji knew who he was addressing. There was a flicker of movement in a nearby doorway, and Shinji knew from the scent in the air that Rin Tohsaka and her beau were both listening in.

_No doubt that doormat Emiya would find out about Sakura's past and will raise merry hell about it, but Tohsaka should be able to keep him in check._

"I see…" he said before giving an apologetic bow. "…please accept my apologies. It seems that I've spoken too much, and entered areas I've no right to enter."

Tokiomi smiled and softly shook his head. "It's no matter Shinji-kun…" he said. "…it is only natural for you to be curious you are a magus after all. However as a senior magus – albeit a former one – I must warn you that there are certain mysteries which should not be approached."

"I understand." Shinji said with a nod. "I'll take my leave now."

Tokiomi nodded and Shinji left, leaving the Supervisor alone in his living room.

* * *

><p>AN

Mostly about the Matou here, if only to lay down more groundwork for the sequel as well as to knock Shinji out of the running as a Matou Master in the upcoming war.

With regards to the former, an amoral mindset is critical for Sakura considering her alignment in the sequel, and in the case of the latter Shinji is too busy sustaining his guardian spirit to support a Servant. Sakura is already contracted to her mother – although technically Medea doesn't really need a Master – and while she can support up to three Servants, more than one Servant will cause a proportional drop in combat capability for her as her reserves are divided between her own spells and her Servants.

There will be a Matou Master, although it's neither Sakura nor Shinji. Cherry Kariya will probably no doubt explode about 'character desecration/defiling' or some other nonsense once I reveal who it is though, LOL.


End file.
